scheduling time for relationships

anyone else here guilty of this?
guilty?
"excuse me" you may be asking.
why would I feel guilty of wanting to spend time with my friends?

perhaps this is just something that I'm feeling, but lately I've realized that I so often have to "schedule" time...sometimes months in advance...to connect with my friends. personally, this makes me kinda sick to my stomach. is this just the cultural norm, and something that I need to suck up? am I an idealist who simply wishes things were different, yet deep down inside knows it'll never be that way?

or maybe...
just maybe...
we're living our lives totally wrong?

don't get me wrong, I love my palm T/X, and so many times that thing has saved my butt from forgetting important meetings, appointments etc...but sometimes when I look at that thing it reminds me that so much of my life is nailed down, planned, commited to, required. Again, perhaps its the ADD is me that wishes things to be different. I digress.

this whole idea of living in community, spending time with those you care for, always seems to sprout up this time of year. today is the american thanksgiving...a time for families to re-unite and share their lives with one another. next month is christmas...again a time when people stop what they're doing to spend time with one another. but does this time with one another always have to be because of a national holdiay?

maybe Acts 2:44-46 sheds some light onto what I'm talking about. a vivid portait of the early believers actively participating in each other's lives. breaking bread together (modern equivalent of this would be eating dinner?) why did this happen. vs. 47 says they did this to "praise God". what a beautiful picture of what deep, authentic, committed relationships should look like. and isn't this a central focus of the gospel message? Christ came and lived among the people. Christ innitiated indredibly deep relationships--with all sorts of people. maybe for you...this is a reality. and you do have these friendships that happen on a somewhat regular basis. but for me...and I feel for many of us...this is sadly not the case. I do have meaningful friendships...don't get me wrong. and I love the relationship I have with my wife. but still I see a need for us a the body of Christ to be more like a body...less like random scattered apendages.

these thoughts are still in their infancy. so bear with me as I continue to wrestle with them. I hope that you and your relationships think deeply about this. do you have to schedule time with those who mean the most to you? if so...then maybe we need to reschedule the rest of our lives!

-Ty