Biscuits and Gravy

There is a schedule hanging in the kitchen. It has a breakfast food on it for every day of the week. Tomorrow is biscuits and gravy. I'm making whole wheat biscuits at 6:15 tomorrow morning and could not be more delighted to have the opportunity to do so.

Having two Navigator houses right next to one another has introduced very different dynamics concerning the availability of friendship. With seven people living within 300 feet of one another, there is always someone around. The extrovert within me is thriving. Such company is the only reason my body has survived on five to six hours of sleep every night for the past two and half weeks.

We started making breakfast together because the stovetop at the house next door wasn't functional. We had scrambled eggs and Great Harvest cinnamon raisin whole wheat bread with apple jelly. The promise of fellowship and filling food caused me to drag my body out of bed every morning to get breakfast started. The fellowship was worth it. The caffeine helped, too.

Last week, we went through just about every breakfast food available: banana bread, yogurt, granola and fruit, homemade cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs with cheese and vegetables. It was delightful; that was when it became official. A schedule for the rest of the semester was compiled this weekend. Not only was my need for fellowship fulfilled but my type A tendencies were more than satisfied.

As I have been reading through I John recently, I have been pondering the importance of love within Christian relationships. I have been asking questions pertaining to the purpose of the Christian relationship and what makes the Christian relationship a real relationship. In the midst of such questions, my mind wanders in asking the purpose and established dynamics of the unbelieving relationship. Christ is at the center of the Christian relationship; in His goodness and sovereignty, He sustains it. I cannot imagine what weak string ties the unbelieving relationship together. Once again, I find a deep sorrow over their loss in not knowing our great God and His satisfying love and power.

I praise God that I have friends within my own home and next door who will spend twenty minutes in the morning with me. That twenty minutes provides for much needed encouragement and fire building as I go out into this dark and quenching world. Nursing school is difficult. Being around unbelievers is draining and yet I would not ask that the Lord put me anywhere else. He has provided me with the strength that I need through His precious Word as well as through deep and sweet fellowship.

The original Greek for fellowship, Koinonia, refers to a partnership, intimate participation together. We are able to partner in life together, specifically life purposed toward the sharing of the gospel and growing in such good news together. I have the opportunity to share life with others. Thank you Lord for the delight, joy, accountability, challenge, opportunity to serve, love, and sharing of struggle that has come as a result of twenty minutes of fellowship in the early morning. Thank you Lord for biscuits and gravy. Thank you that in satisfying a physical need, we have been able to satisfy a spiritual need. I praise You for Your goodness and grace that You have poured upon us.