“When the priests leave the sanctuary, they must first take off the clothes they wore while ministering, because these clothes are holy.” Ezekiel 42:14
I read today’s Word of the Day right after I had gotten off work and had changed out of my all black work clothes and into something more… colorful. So when Ezekiel mentions twice that the priests had to change their clothes after doing their duty in the temple I definitely took notice. It made me feel a little bit more satisfied with the work that I do at Dollar General. It’s certainly not glamorous by any stretch of the imagination. I usually come home covered in a layer of dust and sweat from running around that store like a chicken with my head cut off. And yet day in and day out I see the same faces, and sell them the same bottles of milk and bags of donuts for breakfast. I’ve created relationships with them, not deep relationships by any means, but I recognize them when they come in and I’m genuinely happy to see them. Most of them are nameless friends that simply share that one part of their day with me. And yet that’s still something isn’t it?
I may just be the smiling cashier at the Dollar General to them. But they’re so much more than that to me. They’re not faces in a crowd, they’re people, souls with needs and dreams. They’re people I consider friends, even though I don’t know all their names. Over the last seven years of living in Sheridan I’ve made a lot of friendships of all varying degrees. But there is one thing I’ve learned about your friends, you love them. (Right Kelly?)
A friend isn’t just someone you hang out with or talk to; a friend is someone who is a part of your life. They’re someone who makes you light up inside when they walk in the door, before they ever say a word. Sometimes a friend is someone who gets on your nerves from time to time and you just need a break once in a while because you’ve spent too much time together lately, or they said something that hurt your feelings. There are all kinds of friends, the ones who are ALWAYS there when you need them in a pinch, the ones who can ALWAYS make you laugh when you’re low, the ones who are the BEST listeners, you know what I mean.
I have several online friends that I’ve never met in person, but I love them very much. They’re my sisters! Now because of work, I have a lot of friends that live in the same town that I do, we’re often at the same place at the same time often and usually share a laugh when we get together – most of them I don’t even know their names – and yet I still light up inside when I see them walking through my door because I love them.
You all in DEFINITELY in my friends I’ve never met category. You’re the people I talk to every day. How many people do you have in your life that you talk to every day and you don’t like them? You guys are my friends that ALWAYS listen, you never complain and you rarely annoy me. 😉 You, very often, keep me going when I’m down. You force me to pull my thoughts together and to do the thing that brings me around to where I’m supposed to be. You are amazingly dear to me, you have NO idea. Well, actually, maybe you do. Maybe you feel the same way about me. 😀 I’ve heard through the grapevine that at least a couple of you rely on receiving these emails just as heavily as I rely on sending them. 😀 We’re a good team, you and me, 696 posts into this I think we may have hit our stride. We should keep this up. 😉
Tamar Knochel 