Today is my sister-friend, Lindsey’s birthday. If ever a person deserved to have their birthday declared a national holiday, I would lobby it was Lindsey. She deserves to have this day celebrated on every calendar. But people don’t come to me for things like this. They don’t ask my opinion about national holidays, for some reason. So I write about it and offer, anyway.
Lindsey, as I have shared many times, is the epitome of love and grace. I’ll never forget the snowy day in December, 2008, when I drove over to Lindsey’s house and we talked, cried and just sat in silence. I dumped my heart onto Lindsey’s lap, and she told me, “This is going to get better. We are going to pray you through this.”
Those words still ring in my ears from time to time. I could not have walked through the heartache, the turmoil, the agony and the pain I endured for so long, without her.
Lindsey and I met as little girls. We were in the 7th grade. Had you asked us back then, we would likely scoff at the, “little girls,” remark. But as I look back now, we were little girls. We were so young and innocent; so excited and hopeful about the future to come.
Lindsey is one of those people who can do absolutely anything. She has a binder for everything and I always tell her she is far better than Siri. If I need an answer for something, chances are, Lindsey has it. Michala refers to her as, “Aunt Lindsey,” because Lindsey is so much more than her mom’s best friend.
When I wrap presents, I always laugh at myself because even though the wrapping itself looks pretty decent, I’ll never be able to curl ribbon like Lindsey. I mean, sure. I can take the scissors to some ribbon and have some curly-q’s but Lindsey’s look like the cover of a craft magazine. Piles and piles of curly ribbon sit atop a beautifully wrapped gift. Where I can laugh and delight in the Pinterest fails of life; Lindsey is the type of person who just seems to create things, flawlessly. She missed her calling as both a photographer and an interior decorator. Not to mention because she is a craft enthusiast; Martha Stewart could a thing or two learn from Lindsey. Her humility is unmatched, because everything she does, she does quietly.
“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” - Proverbs 31:29-31 (NIV)
You know the saying of, “hitting rock bottom?” I hit rock bottom in the years leading up to that day in December, 2008. When I unpacked all of my emotional heartache into Lindsey’s hands, my load was not nearly as heavy to carry around, anymore. She made it feel as though we were carrying it, together. Because we were.
Imagine a heavy, wooden chest filled with encyclopedias you move from the upstairs to a storage unit next to your garage. That wooden chest is already heavy, but when you place big, heavy books inside, one person alone cannot carry it.
My heart was already heavy, but I kept placing big, heavy burdens inside, and I could not carry it alone.
When you trust your burdens to someone like Lindsey, they not only help you carry them, but they do not feel the need to advertise and gossip about it. They just do it, because it is the right thing to do. Where some people shout and jump up and down, “Look what I did, look what I did!” and they post a picture of themselves paying for a cup of coffee for a stranger … people like Lindsey are life savers. Rather than toot their own horns, though, they are far too busy looking for the next load to help carry.
My beautiful, sweet, precious gift of a sister-friend, I wish you the happiest of birthdays. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.
I love you more than words could ever say. Remember this photo? It was just a couple of weeks after you helped me unpack my heaviness. You have always been there to help me unpack. For which I am eternally grateful.
I love you and pray everyone reading this has a Lindsey in their life. If they don’t, I pray they don’t have any idea what they are missing, for you truly make this dark world a better place.