Blue Skies

Spring was always my favorite season in Italy as the cold weather forcing you to bundle up, tighten a scarf around your neck and brace yourself for the icy air started to ease into a cool breezy sunshine loosing the fabric around your neck turning it into a fashion statement rather than a neck heater. The trees actually did start to come alive into a fresh green again, and the cherry blossoms became the beautiful decor of the parks around you. It was gorgeous and serene.

The weather might not be quite the same here in Lubbock as the gradual change of cold to warm happens daily without much warning therefore leaving one either longing for a brightly colored scarf to keep warm or despising the brightly colored scarf they now have to lug around all day due to the 20 degree weather change. Regardless, the blue skies found here in West Texas remind me that spring is right around the corner.

These blue skies hold more than the coming season change. They hold memories of my life in Florence. They have reminded me of my precious days when I would take a day just to be with the Lord. Days that usually brought me to parks overlooking the city where I would dive into the Lord's word, pour my heart into my journal and be encouraged by the lyrics of Jeremy Camp songs. They have reminded me of searching my brain for every Italian word I knew as I spent time under the blue umbrella of sky with Italian students I had just met. The blue skies have reminded me of names like Matteo, Nico, Palma, Simone, Maria Cecilia, Vittorio, Fabrizio, Simona, Arta, Claudia, and so many more. Names that are dear to me. Names that, although, I haven't seen in over a year and a half I still think and about pray for daily.

Although language barriers were common, phrases and words never completely understood, there is a deeper friendship within some of these Italian friends than I have with anyone here in America. It isn't a matter of them being a "best" friend, or what you might usually think of when thinking of friendships, but something inexplicable. It's the knowledge that no matter how long I go without seeing them, even if it is a lifetime, they are still my friends. My heart is attached to people like Palma and Maria Cecilia. People that taught me so much about another culture, another language, a bigger picture of the Lord's love and grace.

So thank you blue skies of West Texas. Thank you for being the same in North America as you are in Europe. Thank you for reminding me of things of years past. Thank you for not letting me forget people far away by distance but close to my heart.