Shauna Niequist, author of Bittersweet mentions that “There is a totally finite amount of time and energy that each of us has to give to the people in our lives. You can give yours to your home team. Or you can spend it haphazardly on a collection of people who need something from you, largely because you didn’t want to say no and risk what might happen if you do that. This is a terrible reason to be friends with someone because it’s a ticking time bomb of resentment and co-dependence.” Your home team is the people in your life who constantly want the best for you. These are the ones who you can rely on calling at 3 a.m. and would not hesitate to pick up their phone.
More often than not, people get used because they are not careful about who they are letting on their home team. We are often unaware that they only want our kindness because we have something that they want or need. Those kinds of people look past the qualities that make you unique and beautiful.
Just because we exclude certain people from our lives does not mean that we are bullying them. It means that we are taking the time to realize what is best for us. We need people to push us to be better. The qualities that home teams possess are trust, loyalty, compassion, thoughtfulness, and ambition. Trust is the heart and soul of any strong relationship.
Just take a moment to observe the people that you hang out with the most often. See them laughing until their stomachs hurt at a joke you told? How about the way they compliment your ability to do something or call you out when something is not right? These are the kinds of people that need to be cherished more than jewels or diamonds. These are the people that God has placed in our life to walk in fellowship with and pour love into.
Even though Jesus loves everyone, He only had twelve disciples. He chose only twelve because He saw rare characteristics in each person that He did not see in anyone else. We, like Jesus, have the ability to pinpoint traits in our friends and family that no one else can seek. You often imitate your home team’s traits and wisdom. Kenzie, a life leader at GCU, states that “one of the best ways that your home team can influence you is to be positive. It is easy to pick up positivity when you are constantly surrounded by it.” You also most likely share common ground with the people that you hang out with the most. Everyone close to you is totally different, yet exactly the same. Pay attention to the kind of music that your friends and family listen to, the movies that you watch and the things that you talk about. Sometimes the simplest things in life mean the most. Be sensible to who you are getting close to because the ones who are on your home team will most likely walk with you for the rest of your days.