You’re Invited

We usually think invitations arrive in the mail, engraved, and personally addressed, but every day, we receive invitations in the most unexpected ways.

Recently I was asked by a teammate to go pick up some materials at a mutual friend’s home. Our friend is no longer able to help with the work. I said yes to go not just to pick up the materials but also to see our friend and personally express appreciation for her work. That yes to the invitation led to a conversation that reconnected me with another friend I had not seen in years. We met on Zoom a few days later and shared stories of loss and hope.

A month ago, I was delighted to see someone I knew while attending church. I coached her student in debate decades ago. I had followed her online journey through cancer and losing her husband. We committed to getting together in person, and despite three reschedules, we didn’t waiver from the invitation to reconnect. We had a meaningful time retelling our recent journeys.

This past week at the gym, I heard my name and turned to see a high school classmate on the treadmill! He was in town to lay to rest his father at Arlington National Cemetary. We knew each other’s parents and families from school and summer pool times. I extended the invitation to stop by and visit on the front porch. It was a lovely time to talk and share stories. He even revealed that his parents had kept all his grade school report cards and that I had autographed his 6th-grade card.

Moments can be more when we see them as invitations to the next. It is easy enough to allow those moments to be simply what we can gather in the minutes available but what if there was a next step? Schedules, commitments, and a sense that there isn’t time to stop and disrupt what we have already planned work against considering what else is possible.

An invitation isn’t just something you receive. It is also something you extend. In this season, when we are still figuring out what has happened to our usual ways, let’s consider the possible invitations in our everyday living. What is inviting you today? What invitations are you giving? Don’t think it has to be something big and fussy. It can be the smallest next step to take. After all, imagine the fun of discovering some unearthed treasure like your 6th-grade self making veiled threats as only middle schoolers can do. .