It’s Tuesday again!

I hope you are enjoying reading this 31 Days of My People series as much as I am enjoying writing it. I’ve been sharing stories of My People and I’m overwhelmed at the response from so many of you who have said things like:

“You have such great People in your life.”

“I think these are great reads that will make others think of their PEOPLE and maybe, just maybe begin to appreciate their PEOPLE a bit more.”

“Every day I can’t wait to read who is next!”

“I was so bummed when I checked and it was just your Tuesday Tips! I wanted to meet more of Your People!”

Okay well that last one… I get what the person meant! But Tuesdays in this series are special, because Tuesday People Tips are all about helping you start, build, and grow your relationships with Your Very Own People.

So here’s Round 2 of your Tuesday People Tips:

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This week I want to focus on the logistics of staying caught up with Your People. We live in an overwhelmingly busy world. SO many things fight for our attention, and commitments can overtake us pretty easily if we let them. So if you have Your People or you’re trying to build better relationships with some, then there have to be some logistical considerations.

Let Technology Work For You

My momma taught me that a girl needs pretty stationery to send notes and letters when the time is right. I will never forget that, and a good old-fashioned letter or card in the mail is the ultimate kind gesture to me. (I still believe in you, USPS!)

But of course options like text, email, and Messenger are the fastest route to Your People. And as much as technology drives me insane because of what we let it do to us at times, I can’t deny how great it can be for keeping in touch when things are busy.

On any given week, you can find a group Facebook message going between me, my friends Sarah and Jen (in West Virginia) and our friend Marla, who lives across the planet in Cambodia. Even though it is impossible to see each other often, we can certainly keep in touch because of technology. We’ve talked each other through some pretty tough situations, discussed theology and social justice, and cracked up together all because of one little free app. Not a bad deal.

This week my friend Jeff, who lives across the country in Portland, launched his first ebook on Amazon. (WAY TO GO, Jeff!!) We carried on a great conversation about it via text, then later he emailed me some things and asked me to help him edit some things in it. It just worked best that day for us to text and email, so rather than wish we could do all this over the phone or in person, we just let technology work for us.

Put each other’s birthdays in your iPhone calendar and set an alert. (I am THE WORST at remembering dates, so this one is a MUST for me!) Text pictures of your kids’ soccer games to Your People. Follow each other’s Pinterest boards to share recipes from across the country. Bottom line is… Whatever it takes, do what needs to be done to connect. Relationships don’t just happen. They have to be maintained. Technology can be your assistant in this.

Small=BIG

There have been many times I’ve come home to find a small surprise awaiting me from My People. Chocolate covered pretzels in my fridge. Flowers on my doorstep. A card tucked in my screen door.

Sometimes a one-line text message with ridiculous emoticons (see technology above) is all I need to get through a day. Something indicating that one of My People is thinking about me.

When a friend invites you over and then you find YOUR favorite drink in the fridge, that’s a small thing that says they were thinking about you. Those small things are the BIGGEST to me. They don’t take a huge amount of time or even tons of effort. Just a small acknowledgement that I matter to someone. To My People.

Good is Better Than Perfect

All of the above fall into this category, to be sure. In fact, this might be the best tip of all Tuesdays. A good time of connection with a friend whenever you can is better than waiting for the perfect time. The other night Emily and I stole away for two hours, tucked ourselves into a booth at Panera, and talked about everything until we just had to go home. Two hours was all we had. That wasn’t nearly long enough to catch up fully. It wasn’t enough time at all for either of us. We were just getting warmed up!

Sure, I’d love a long, lazy weekend retreat with a few days with each of my friends to sit around a fire and talk about all the things of life. But if I can’t have a lot of time with My People, you’d better believe I will take a little bit. Memories and connections can still be made in short bursts of time. There’s no rule against that.

So yes, plan ahead and try to maximize your time together. Use technology to help facilitate keeping touch, and be mindful of small things that mean a lot. . But by all means, let the good be GOOD, and don’t push it aside waiting for the exact perfect time or place. Talk on the phone for 20 minutes while you’re driving home from work. Meet up at the grocery store and chat while you get your weekly essentials. Get creative to make sure you get to connect and spend some good time with Your People, because they are perfectly here, right now. And THIS is the time to enjoy them in your life.

Plan some good time with Your People this week. Get creative.