Balcony Woman Srsly Melissa

"Friends, what a loaded word. When we are younger, we want ALL the FRIENDS! We chase them, literally on the playground. I always would chase for a second and then maybe fake an injury 😊 haha (I’m kind of kidding).

I remember about 10ish years ago I would tell people, “I want one new friend a year” and IT WOULD HAPPEN.  I always made a new friend every year. I’m not talking about a new follower on social media, that’s fun and all, but I was talking about someone I would let in, someone I would invest in, and someone I would let come to my house when it was messy 😊 (you ladies know what I mean by that!!).

Then as I’ve gotten into my mid-40’s, things have shifted.  We don’t have to be besties in order to invest, encourage and let in. Hear me out! Women need women.  We need to be able to say kind words and encourage from afar. We don’t have recess anymore, playgrounds to run on, or monkey bars to fall off of. What we do have is our WORDS, thoughts and opinions AND those can be just as dangerous as the monkey bars! (trust me).

Balcony Women? What in the world is that!? Well, they are the women who stand in the balcony of YOUR LIFE and cheer you on!! And isn’t it interesting that Balconies are usually small. NOT tiny, but not oversized either.

I personally have a pretty full balcony! Oh, how blessed I am.  I don’t say that to brag, I say that because that is a lot of investing, a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, and most of all a lot of scripture being shared. We should all stop right now, grab a pencil and paper, and jot down who is in your balcony. Ask these 3 simple questions:

1. Who encourages me when I doubt myself?
2. Who points me to Jesus?
3. Who listens without judgment?

 There could be more questions but I feel those are the main ones.

AND ARE you standing in anyone’s Balcony?

Flip that piece of paper over and ask yourself:

1. Do I encourage other women?
2. When I am called, texted or emailed do I share Jesus at all?
3. Do I listen to just reply or do I really LISTEN without sharing my opinion immediately?

I will end with this. In this thing we call life, we only have a certain amount of time. I want to be in as many balconies as I can. In a way, I want to stay in the balcony of life. This does not mean I will always be on the mountain top, but with Jesus I can always be encouraging. Maybe just a smile, maybe just an ear or a simple whisper, “I know…I hear you and I’m here”.

Have you ever been at a sporting event and saw how different people cheer on the SAME GAME?  Watch next time it’s interesting! We have the YELLERS, we have the ones who SHOUT, mostly at the wrong time, we have the clappers, and we have the ones who just sit and watch and every once in a while they look at their neighbor and say,”YES!”

Not everyone is the same type of encourager. Everyone’s balcony will look and sound different. THAT’S OK.

Just be at the game….be engaged…watch….!

Don’t compare! If you are watching other women and their balcony YOU, my sweet friend, will miss the game. " - Srsly Melissa

A special note from Balcony Women.  We were blessed to have Melissa as the featured guest speaker at one of our events.  She is hilarious and she uses that gift to share a message of hope and encouragement.  We immediately had a Balcony Women bond with her and we know you will too.  You can follow her on Facebook at @srslyMelissa