A month or so ago, I had a chance to sit across the table from a newfound friend at a little Mexican restaurant right outside the famed downtown Franklin, Tennessee.

This friend and I have actually known of one another for some time through mutual friends but haven't spent much time getting to know each other until recently. We're similar in a few ways that are of note: 

-We're both ENFJ according to Myers Briggs
-We both share July 6th as our date of birth
-and we are both hard on ourselves in most aspects of life...in our vocations of ministry, in particular.

Despite the busy morning that had preceded our lunch meeting, as soon as I scooched into the booth and folded my legs to the side of me, I felt instantly at peace.

This being the first meal we'd ever shared I imagined there would be some awkwardness, some slowness in getting conversation started, but we jumped into discussion and the chips and salsa like we'd been pals all our lives.

This lunch date came at a time when we were both feeling a bit low...lots of feelings with no time or space to feel them, lots of questions with no one to ask. And then all of a sudden, here we were with one another, gifted with the safe space for which we'd both been longing. 

We voiced the feelings.

We asked the questions.

No holds barred. No tiptoeing. No second guessing. Unapologetically saying exactly what we meant, knowing that we wouldn't be judged by the other.

We emerged from the restaurant later that day deciding to do more of the following:

-Take care of ourselves (physically, spiritually, emotionally, and socially--thanks Mountain T.O.P.)

-Tell the truth when things are difficult. We need not struggle alone.

-Be kinder to ourselves and remember that the world will not come crashing down if we do not do things perfectly because, well, we're human, so that's impossible anyway. And there is always another new moment unfolding before us.

As I walked back to my car that afternoon, I breathed in the just-finished-raining smell that was simultaneously holding space around me and soaking into the asphalt underneath my feet. I felt for the first time in a while that there was hope, that I could breathe, that I wasn't alone, and that these "new moments" were the grace that had always been there but that I hadn't come up for air to accept and embrace.

Because she knew the positive outlook we helped one another reach over Mexican food that day would not be a constant, she sent me a canvas of the T.S. Eliot quote below in the mail a few days ago for the times that I need a little extra encouragement and a reminder to breeeathe.

I am thankful for her friendship and for the ways she continues to care for others even in the midst of all she has on her plate. Krislyn is currently finalizing her United Methodist commissioning paperwork, along with working in ministry full time, AND finishing her seminary education. Will you join me in praying for her to have all she needs throughout this very busy season of life--for patience, strength, comfort, and peace?

Thanks for being you, Krislyn! And thanks for the lunch date that helped give me a much needed "fresh beginning."