*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
Does anyone else feel awkward when you are not the first to arrive and people have already found a table to sit and eat at and you’re trying to figure out if that drink on the table is to save a seat for someone or if it was just placed there by someone at the table and you don’t want to ask if the seat is taken because it might be and then you have to turn around and have to ask that same question at another table? Okay, maybe that’s just always my situation, but in any case, whether there is or is not a seat saved for you in the lunchroom, I think we all long for belonging…we were made for connections. Yes, even us intro/ambiverts!
Beauty in Saving a Seat
If you picked up Craving Connection by the (in)courage writers or Never Unfriended by Lisa-Jo Baker, you will have read their real-life stories, practical Scripture application, and connection challenges. Now, Dayspring / (in)courage and Lifeway are coming together to bring you something that looks deeper into finding and keeping lasting friendships. What does the Bible have to say about friendships?
Lisa-Jo has written a 7-session Bible study on friendship called *We Saved You a Seat. Through a series of videos, she shares how friendship takes showing up, vulnerability, encouragement, service, forgiveness, walking away wisely, and action.
While we might have defined friendship our whole lives by what others do to us, in the end it’s what we do for others that will define us as friends or not.
So, that’s the challenge – how can we be the ones who show up and “save a seat” for another just as Jesus would have done? There is beauty in that, beauty in having someone join you at a table and to be welcomed in. It may be a physical table for a meal, but it can mean so much more as we see in the Scriptures. Each week’s study includes a viewer guide with follow-up questions to the video, 3 days of reading material with questions, charts, note-taking (or doodling :p ) space, and a Friendship Challenge.
Encouragement in Saving a Seat
Sometimes it’s not comfortable offering a seat to someone you don’t know. I mean, think about how everyone wants their own space in the plane, and what a bummer it is when someone asks if the seat is taken? We want the freedom to stretch and do our own thing without someone else up in our business. And it may even be embarrassing if we nod off and drool…just a bit. Friendships can be like that sometimes. It is not comfortable. We may have to give up our space. It can be messy from time to time.
Leaning deep into Jesus’ sacrificial love will walk you much deeper and longer into opening up your heart to love people you never thought you could love…
I look forward to digging into the study more and seeing what the Bible has to say about friendships and what friendship looked like to those in the Bible. There were some sticky situations in there for sure! And there are definitely some challenges to stepping out in courage, to initiating an offer or an apology!, and to living out our lives in love.
As much as He understands life and generosity, if anyone understands friendship betrayal, it is also Jesus.
To help us along, you will find all of the above-mentioned items, as well as the Bible study book for teen girls, the Bible study kit, and the Conversation Starter Jar (below) over at DAYSPRING.
Your turn: Who or what in your life has brought you encouragement?
(Like what you see? You can find more about my favorite Dayspring things and deals HERE.)
*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.