Encouragement

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When I was in high school, my Dad always used to buy frozen pizza. I don’t know why but we always had at least two or three in the freezer as a backup. Maybe it was because my brothers and I were always having friends over and my Dad wanted to make sure we were ‘prepared’. There is a particular brand of frozen pizza that I will never forget though: Reggio’s. It wasn’t the standout taste of the pizza or amazing bargain price that keeps it in my mind after all this time. Rather, it was the sentiment behind whom it was shared with.
Senior year my best friend Josh and I would always have sleepovers at my house. We’d stay up until three or four talking about God, our struggles, school, or any other topic. At these slumber parties, we would always get hungry at around one in the morning and we’d pop a frozen pizza in to satisfy our stomachs. It turned into a little contest because each week my dad would have a different brand of pizza for us to try. We’d discuss it afterward and decide where the current pizza measures up in terms of the ones we’d enjoyed in the past.
Reggio’s pizza became our very favorite. My dad must have picked up on it because for weeks straight that was all he bought. We’d get so excited when we opened the freezer to find a fresh, frozen black box labeled ‘Reggio’s Italian-style pizza’ on the side. Not only did we love the taste, but we loved the memories that we had shared together while enjoying the delicious pizza pie. I can’t count the number of times Josh and I topped off a sleepover with a Reggio’s in the oven.
When I think of Reggio’s pizza nowadays, it makes me think of how blessed I am. Reggio’s pizza, for me, symbolizes the wonderful fellowship and accountability that God has allowed me to share. Josh was and still is the greatest friend I’ve ever had. He’s always been the one I went to if I needed help with something. He’s always been the one friend I’d call if I needed encouragement for a few minutes. He’s always been the friend that believed in what God could do in my life.
I take a lot of things for advantage. I’m a spoiled middle-class, healthy, suburban boy. I have a supportive family, the best friends in the world, a superb, academically-challenging college, and enough finance to where I don’t have to worry. It’s easy for me to get caught up in all that and paint the picture in my mind that everyone is as well off as I am. Just recently, I’ve started to challenge my mind to realizing that all the good things in my life are there through the beautiful allowance of the Lord. They are all blessings that God put into my life.
Something as small as being able to share a frozen pizza with my best friend and talk about the deepest areas of our heart is the biggest blessing I could ask for. We shared true fellowship in the odd hours of the night whenever we’d split a pie. Josh helped me through the toughest trials and adjustments I’ve ever been through. His friendship has been a great gift from God and I’ve learned to continually thank him for that.
Little images like Reggio’s pizza remind me that God’s grace and love are constantly surrounding us. He reveals his magnificence through the smallest things sometimes. He sneaks things into our lives when we need them and brings love into our life when our heart is calling for it. The only reason I don’t realize it as much as I should is because I don’t open my eyes. I let my mind get distracted with all the other worries of the world. Images like Reggio’s pizza have helped me to be in the mindset that God is continually giving me reminders of the way he has blessed my life and poured a little more grace upon me. Any time one of these images comes up (which I’ve found to be much more often that I’d realized) I take a minute to thank God for the love that he shows me every day and the blessings that he has surrounded me with.

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