Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: if either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help pick them up. — Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
In the jolly time of Advent, I always look towards celebration with my real friends the most. During Youth Camp at the YMCA of the Rockies, I made those real, true, and best friends. These are the kind of people who I know will forever be consistent even when the rest of the world is inconsistent. In them I find support, laughs, open ears, and the time to listen. I think listening is the best way to show how much you truly care.
Sixth grade had been hard as middle school was for most. I had the typical bully and the sledgehammer of end-of-school projects. I needed a break like summer. I was especially pumped for South Main Baptist Youth Camp. It was my first time traveling without my parents to remind me to brush my teeth, or do this or that.
At first, my family-group of girls goofed around and didn't seem to really take anything that was being said to heart. But towards the middle of the amazing week we won competitions together, like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. It was the games that ultimately let us grow closer together. Soon every night the "Sunshine Fam Bams" would come from the nightly group discussion and indulge in time with our cabin of girls called "Girl Talk." All six of us shared life struggles, opinions, and secrets as if we were sisters. Walls tumbled down and bonds grew like ivy on a fence.
In that short week, I learned that God puts you in specific places with specific people for a reason. All blessings, like friendship, come from Him, and true friends come together naturally and always act as a backbone. I hope to continue to get to learn more about every friend I have come to know and love at South Main. This is how I anticipate Advent.
Dear Precious Lord, thank you for the lasting friends you place in our lives, the kind of people who will walk beside us forever, even when others in our life abandon us at our most trying times. Thank you for this wonderful church in which we worship You and Your amazing gift to us, as well as the body of welcoming church family. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Jessie Horton is a seventh grade student attending Presbyterian School. She is a sister to Nick and James Horton, daughter to Amy and Roger Horton, and granddaughter to Ann and Bob Peck.
