Life is strange. That is my profound insight this morning. I’ll bet it never would’ve occurred to you without me:) What sparked this vision was, of all things, Saturday Night Live, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. I vividly remember the first time I saw Dan Aykroyd impersonate Jimmy Carter, which I thought was one of the funniest things I had ever seen in my young life—couldn’t wait to tell my cousins about it at church the next morning: Did y’all see this crazy new show called Saturday Night? Man, it’s FAR OUT!
The reruns from the seventies reference the likes of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and the musical groups are people I remember listening to on the radio back then. What strikes me about those episodes is that the world they are parodying seems so tame compared to the one that presents itself in news headlines today. I know it wasn’t, of course—post-Vietnam, Watergate aftermath . . . Even so, part of me wants to call up Jane and Chevy on the Weekend Update desk and warn them, “You think THESE are turbulent times? Just wait till you see . . .”
It’s only in hindsight that we can understand our own story. Back in the early nineties, when a girlfriend talked me into going with her to a company volleyball game, I had no idea the cute guy I flirted with on the court would be buying me Valentine’s roses years later, that we would help each other through great personal losses and celebrate incredible joys together, that we would plan our retirement together. Who knew? I have dear friends I’ve been close to so long that I can’t remember NOT knowing them. But there must’ve been that first time, that casual “hi, it’s nice to meet you” that evolved into decades of sharing each other’s joys and sorrows. Yet, at that first introduction, who knew?
One such friend reminded me this week that there are precious few constants in this life. But there is one. And it’s enough to sustain us.
This is love: not that we loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his Son
as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.
No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another,
God lives in us and
his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4: 10-12
What's funny to me is that I was just wondering how you two met.
Posted by: Nancie | February 15, 2015 at 06:04 AM
Aren't we blessed :)
Posted by: Candy Hicks | February 15, 2015 at 10:53 AM
Definitely!
Posted by: Valerie | February 24, 2015 at 04:12 AM
Did we "meet cute"? :)
Posted by: Valerie | February 24, 2015 at 04:13 AM