You know that woman.  You’ve seen her.  Yeah, you know the chick.  She is the one who’s kids just started back to school and she is busy!  Getting forms filled out, buying supplies, getting new clothes and shoes for those children who never stop growing.  She might even be the one juggling her own career, doing the grocery shopping, fixing dinner, carving out time for a conversation with her husband.   She’s probably the one sending a card to that lonely friend, and the sick grandmother.  She’s the one who stops for a moment and gazes at her reflection in the mirror and says, “Wow, you look tired.”

Maybe she is you.

Last weekend lots of my friends and I had a great time at the Our Time Texas Beach Party where we learned to line dance, had a great meal, and got to take a moment to study up on cowgirl ways.  One very important thing we learned was how big our need is for one another.  We sang the song, “Desperado”.

“Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
You been out ridin’ fences for so long now.”

Can’t you hear the melody even now?  What does “out ridin’ fences” mean anyway?  I actually had to look it up!

Out riding fences can be literal or it can be a metaphor. Cowgirls often go out riding fences to ensure livestock don’t stray.  As a metaphor, it’s simply out doing chores nobody particularly likes to do, but it’s part of life and it keeps you out on the range away from people and relationships. It’s kinda comfortable that way.

Let me tell you this: In all the chores of life, we still need each other.  No matter how tedious the job may seem, no matter how busy we get, and no matter how isolated we feel, we need each other.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says,”Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down,
his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”

Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and is born, as is a brother, for adversity.” (Amp)

Friends are FOR adversity. We need our friends in good times and in bad times.  Through every season of life.  Don’t isolate yourself.  We must learn to make relationships a priority and not let all the “priorities” crowd out what we really need.  We need one another.  We need time with God.  The Bible says that there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother, and that is Jesus Christ.  He is our rock, our refuge when times are crazy and he is waiting for us to take a breath.

I have a friend who is usually busier that I am, but on the night of the first day of school, we both set aside time to go have a pedicure, go to a movie, and dinner.  Wow!  Talk about NICE!  A real girls night out.  It took work to set aside that time for just me and my friend.  But we were able to talk and chat about everything that is important to us and take a breath. I came home refreshed and ready to tackle the needs of my family.

Many of us truly are so overwhelmed by the needs right in front of us, we can’t see beyond them.  It’s important that we have friends who will help lift us up so we can get a better vantage point and look around.  Most of us will not be able to go to India and feed the hungry, but we can make a genuine impact by touching the lives of the people directly in front of us.  That includes our friends.  There should be no guilt in that!  God placed people directly in our path that we are meant to have relationship with. It is not an accident or an imposition.  It is your destiny.

So in the words of our theme song, “you better let somebody love you, before it’s too late.” Don’t be that tired girl in the mirror, too frazzled and isolated for relationships.  Don’t be the desperado.  Take a step, make a plan, do it today.  It’s not too late.