Visiting

I was chewed out today - by a friend, and the chewing out part didn't last too long - because I have been back a week and hadn't gone to visit her. I needed that! I pretend that I need a lot of time to get resettled and catch up on sleep and whatnot. But the truth is: I'm lazy about visiting. Visiting friends is really important in this culture and you don't need an invitation or even to call ahead. You just pop by. It shows that you care and that you're like family - you didn't an invitation if you're going home. 

I am often frozen by a desire to wait until I have plans or an invitation or a reason to visit. The thought of casually dropping by gives me stress. I suppose that makes sense to some degree - there are many people at the church and in the area who I'm not technically friends with, and I feel I need to visit all of them if I visit one of them. But if I don't start, I'll never visit anybody. 

I think it's easy for people in ministry to feel spread too thin. Many people make demands on your time. It's legitimate to take space and time to rest and rejuvenate. However, I should not use that as an excuse. People are important. So dreadfully important, and anyway, I often find that I enjoy the visits, not always, of course, but very frequently.