Every Friday night, my daughter and I have a date with TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress. But sometimes, just to be different, we saunter over to Say Yes to the Dress: Bridesmaids instead.

One particular episode began like all the others: A bride waltzes in with her bridal party to the popular Atlanta shop Bridals by Lori looking for bridesmaid dresses. However, this particular outing took an ugly turn when two bridesmaids began fighting over which one of them loved the bride best and would therefore be crowned maid of honor. Their bickering overshadowed the appointment to such an extent, the bride looked miserable enough to ditch the bridesmaids, grab her fiance, and fly to Vegas.

At the height of the women’s me-first behavior, Monte Durham, an employee at the bridal shop, says,

“Everybody wants to be the bride’s best friend but nobody wants to have the bride’s back. Interesting concept to me.”

Interesting concept indeed. Everybody wants to be a good friend, but not everybody wants to behave like one. Like the bridesmaids in the show, we get so caught up in wanting to air our 2 cents and affirm our importance that we lose sight of the big picture: loving those around us well.

We live in the age of i-everything, and it’s easy for this mentality’s tentacles to creep into every aspect of life. I’ll take the i-church, thankyouverymuch, with a side of i-friendships and i-affirmation.

If I’m going to fight this, I have to approach it old school. I need to adopt a strong ninja move to knock it flat on its back. And the good news? Accomplishing this is easy. All it takes is a yes to one simple thing. Read with me at (in)courage and share your thoughts, too?

Also, a fun announcement! I am starting something new on Thursdays, and I hope you might want to play along.

I’m a girl who l-o-v-e-s surprises, and I enjoy giving them as much as getting them. The best surprise I’ve ever given was flying in my husband’s best friends and their families for his surprise 40th birthday party. The best surprise I’ve ever received is the news of being pregnant with not one but two – two! – babies.

Those are grand, neon-lights-across-the-sky kind of surprises. But I don’t want to be prejudice against the smaller surprises too, the ones that aren’t as flashy but no less fun. No less meaningful. It takes keen eyes to notice smaller surprises around unsuspecting corners.

So next Thursday, I am unveiling a link-up called Out of the Blue. The idea behind it is to write about something that *surprised* you in a post and then link it up here {or if you don’t have a blog, share your story in the comments}. You can write about a big surprise, a tiny surprise, or in-between one. I want to learn how God used something right out of the blue to build your faith, give you joy, or encourage your heart in the midst of your daily to-do’s.

Each week, I will narrow the out of the blue topic by giving a prompt the week before. And the prompt for our inaugural linky next Thursday is:

Answered prayer: How did the Lord answer a prayer for you in a way that surprised you?

I’ll be writing about this and looking forward to reading your beautiful words, too.

Without a doubt, you are an out of the blue blessing for me, friends. Really and truly, no take backs. I love you.

Any questions about out of the blue? I’ll give more details next week, but feel free to hit me with any questions you have today.