Sasha A. Katz

Dear Sisters,  

Last year, my dear friend visited Florida for the first time in about two years since she moved. Although we tried two or three times, I wasn’t able to get to her. I have been feeling very guilty for a looong time. The kind of guilty that makes you not reach out to the person because you feel so awful.

Now that we all are in a season when we are thinking more about the people we love, I am snapping out of my guilt. I am going to call my friend and apologize. I already know she will forgive me. But I also know that we have been through enough together that my too busy life was hurtful to her.

The timeline of my friendship with this sister coincides with a season in my professional life. When I transitioned to full time work around 2006, my professional life was an upward shift of blessing upon blessing. Like any business, I’ve had periodic dips. But, truly, I was more often met with the generosity of our clients and the covering of my Father over my work and my staff’s work.

Around the time my dear friend’s story took her out of my daily life, life just didn’t feel so generous and the covering seemed to fade.

Have you ever been to the school of hard knocks?

Well, that’s how the last few years have felt professionally. And, by now, most of you know that there was a toll on my body, mind and spirit as well.

I am going to call my friend and apologize. I already know she will forgive me.

I’m thinking more deeply about the current state of affairs and the professional school of hard knocks that I’ve been attending.

I’m thinking that the breaking down of a thing is often unbeknownst to the one who is experiencing the breaking down.

I am thinking that there is a rise and there is a coming home.

Sometimes the rise of the roller coaster and the road to the beginning point have a path so tricky that you forget you are on a trail set with love by the Creator. Sometimes the path is so tricky and bumpy and full of adrenaline that you don’t realize you are holding the compass upside down. Have you been there?

I am going to call my Dad and apologize. I already know He will forgive me.

We all are in a season when we are thinking more about the people we love. As I reflect, I am not able to stand by each and every decision I’ve made in this three year roller coaster ride I have been on. But I do know that God’s love is so grand that He’s already been stitching up the pinholes of this rambunctious, white water, up stream raft I’ve been buckled into.

Our Dad doesn’t just forgive. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift.

He will mend. I will hurt some. I will stand next to my Dad and do some of the mending alongside of Him. This feels like home. This feels like the point of beginning. This feels like I may just be able to get off the ride and let Him create something better and different. This feels like walking on rocks.

Calling my friend will feel like walking on rocks. But then, the mend.

Dear sisters, I am sure that many of you have been soaring. This is not your season of a bit of regret and turning to the garden to dig up some fertile ground.

If you are soaring, bask in the sunlight of gratitude. A season of soaring speaks volumes to a dry and weary land that is thirsting for the living water. Spread the goodness grown in you to others who long for it.

For those of you who are hovering over the runway coming in for a landing. For those of you who are so close to the point of beginning that you kind of don’t mind a bumpy, thrashing landing. For those of you who are so close to the earth that you already feel your toes in the grass.

Yes, that’s right, you got your compass right side up. You are coming down into the good thing that only a breaking can accomplish.

The breaking down of a thing is often unbeknownst to the one who is experiencing the breaking down. But when she sees, she calls her Dad and apologizes. She already knows He will forgive her.

Love,

Your Soul Sister Sasha

One More Thing

I was brave Monday morning. I started a series on IG. Yep, it’s the Character Study I have been telling you about – 14 Days of Growing Wisdom into Your Everyday. Will you check it out and follow me?

My friend Denise Trio of The Rose Creative is on her way to making this devotional something you can put in your hands or on your screen.

In the meantime, come be part of the conversation. Click Here.