Adolescence is full of change for all of us. It’s a time of raging hormones, awkward growth, and great confusion! If you didn’t have a best friend by your side to navigate all of the chaos, you are lucky to have made it out alive. I had that best friend. We not only attended the same school during the day, but we were in theatre classes during the evening. We were thick as thieves and full of mischief. She dared me to kiss my first boy ( a simple peck, but frightening nonetheless) , was the only person to ever spend the night at my Granny’s, and the keeper of all of my secrets. She was he-larry-us! Some people have a gift for certain colorful words like they can almost make them sound musical. She had that gift.  And then, I changed…

I was invited to an Easter play by some friends. At the end of the performance, I decided to  accept Christ as my Savior. Few times in my life have I ever felt so sure about something, this was one of those times. Being a new Christian, I had to let go of some things, i.e., my sailor friend. The example of Christianity in my age bracket was to me, perfection. I wanted to have it all together too, so I wrote a letter.. to break up with my best friend. She was heartbroken, but I stood my ground. Being perfect Christian, there was no room for the old me and that old friend.

We went our separate ways, to separate schools and separate lives. I was so silly to let go of a friendship over a little mischief.  I missed her laughter. It wasn’t until years later that I wrote a letter to apologize. I had not left any room for grace. She accepted my apology, chalked it up to adolescence and we moved forward.  She is still hilarious! She’s a wife, mother, and brilliant teacher. She’s able to balance it all with a lil lotta grace!

It can be easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sometimes we write the character out of our story for a simple character flaw. If we eliminate all of the characters with flaws in our stories, we eliminate ourselves and that’s not a story anyone wants to read.

We eventually reunited and were able to share in the joy of each other’s wedding day. I’m so grateful that she leftalilroomforgrace…for me.

He-larry-us joke from her on my wedding day!

What about you? Have you ever gotten rid of something or someone because of a simple “flaw”? Please share below!