My Favorite List 

I’m a list-maker. In fact, so great is my desire to cross something off a list that—if I’m enumerating items—I’ll include something I’ve already finished just for the pleasure of drawing a line through it. I have copious lists for work, for events that are approaching, for groceries to purchase, and for daily to-do items. I’ve got a summer bucket list that shapes how our family plans our summer months, full of day trips to museums and parks and experiences we want to accomplish while our daughters are young and not sailing in a million different directions. I even keep a year-round, ongoing list of ideas for Christmas gifts.

But I also have other, more private lists that only my husband and I ever consult. A list of friends, family, and acquaintances that we are praying for. There’s also the wordy, but aptly named, “People We Want to See” list. It’s a running list of people we are intentionally choosing to target—in the best sense of the word—for deeper friendship.

While I feel like all of my lists serve a purpose, our list of friends we want to spend time with is my favorite. Because no matter how important it is to write down places we’d like to visit or when I need to see the dentist again, the truth is that we intentionally choose to prioritize people over things. Each month, we sit down, find dates that are open, and make time for the people we care about.

I don’t keep lists because I’m amazingly organized; I keep them because I’m not. The older I get, the more I realize how quickly life can pass us by. I don’t want to get to the end of my life and wish I’d taken the time for more lunch or coffee dates, more deep conversations late at night, and more dinners where hearts are shared and confidences spoken. And so, I’ll keep making my lists. I’ll find spaces in my calendar. And I’ll intentionally invite others into my life.

Today’s Act of Friendship: Make a list of friends or acquaintances you’d like to spend time with over the next month, and then follow through with invitations.