Rooting for the Home Team

When I turned 25 my best friend gave me a book called Bittersweet. She marked a chapter on being 25 that I had to read excerpts from in the middle of my party. It was delightful. The writer of this book is Shauna Niequist who I deeply enjoy. She wrote two books, the other being Cold Tangerines, that both have a perspective of life and lessons that she tells as if she is talking to you over a cup of coffee. The chapters are simple and random but joyous and help you to embrace the little things in life. One topic of hers that I've been adopting over the years is the idea of a home team.

Your home team are those people who are closest to you. Your home team are the ones who no matter how much you seem to be losing in the game of life, will still root for you and believe in you. Your home team are those who you believe in and will be there for no matter how many home runs they make or how badly they strike out. 

As I get older, which is still honestly not old at all, I meet more people and life transitions and people come and go. Friends get married, they have babies and they get in the groove. Roommates change and you ebb and flow with life and I'll be frank, sometimes those changes are much harder than I'd like them to be. But the home team remains, regardless of circumstances. 

Since September my two dearest friends in Austin have both gotten married and now both moved away with their husbands. I love where God has taken them and by no means am wishing they'd have remained single and in Austin. But change is hard. One of the 5000 things I'm learning over and over since being in Austin is what it looks like to love your home team and cheer for them, even from a distance. 

God has put me in Austin for a very clear purpose. I see that more and more each day (another blog post?). But it's been hard for me the last few months to accept being out of the daily lives of those who know me the best and who I know so well. Jesus has been oh-so-faithful to be near to me these last 2.5 years in Austin as friends have changed and relationships with long-time friends have changed. You see I LOVE my home team. Quite frankly, I'd put them put against anyone's any day of the week and come out ahead. They're just that stinking awesome (and they marry well which only adds to the team)!

God has been showing me in a very real sense these last 3 months how to be open with what He is preparing me for. As those in my daily life change, God has brought old friends back into my life or radically changed friendships I've had a few years to show me that He is able to meet my needs. My home team wouldn't have grown these last few years without having to be put in places that I was uncomfortable without those who know me best. You see, God is really good at knowing what I need… and I tend to be really good at doubting that. 

My home team helps me remember. They help point me to Truth. They point out the sin in my life that I tend to disguise as "awesome". They have taught me faithfulness, vulnerability, openness, how to listen, how to love people, how to SLOW DOWN, how to just BE.

So for those of you who are still there when I don't blog, when I screen your calls, when I forget your birthdays, when I'm more honest than gentle, when I talk when I should be listening, when I make you fit my agenda, or just plain am Kimberly without Jesus, THANK YOU. Y'all are one of God's sweetest gifts and I love you deep. 

Home Team... you're the bomb.com.