The Blessing of Friends

I drove down to the City in the South this weekend to spend some time with my mom and also just for a change of scenery. My mom and stepdad are getting ready to move, but first they have a lot of work to do on their house before they can sell it. I helped while I was there; however there was more to do than the three of us could handle. So, my mom (many days ago) had asked their life group from church to come out and help her. On Saturday, they slowly began to trickle in and started to work on the house. One guy brought his power washer and washed the exterior - it looked so much better when he finished. Several of the women in the group helped my mom clean the cabinets in the kitchen and I ran errands. With all the help we had, it only took a few hours to clean up the house and then it was time to move on to packing.

I was amazed to see how quickly my mom and her friends packed up each room. There were five of them and it took less than thirty minutes to finish each room. Throughout the day, as I dashed in and out of the house, I could hear laughter drifting out of the rooms everyone was working in. At one point I had to stop and just think about how amazing it was that my mom and stepdad had these friends who were willing to give up their Saturday to help them. I think sometimes we forget the blessing that are friends, these people who are not our biological family but care for us as if we were related. Friends help each other when asked, laugh with each other over things they've done, support each other, and get to experience life together. I feel blessed to have been able to witness the love my mom's friends have for her, the support they have offered her. I am thankful that since my siblings and I live two or more hours away from my mom and stepdad and can't always be there to help, there's a group of people willing to help them with anything they need.