Friends

July 22, 2014

Last month I picked up "Cold Tangerines" by Shauna Niequist and I couldn't put it down. (You can read about that HERE.) The essay about friendship titled "Swimming" really grabbed my attention.

On p. 49 Shauna said these words:


  "Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is...We get to remind each other about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are."


It's true.

I have been blessed with so many friends. When I look back, I realize that facing the hardest times together have been some of the sweetest. Staying close and connected takes work and every now and then we need reminders that the work of friendship is worth it. (I wrote one HERE back in January.)

Today I'm writing to remind all of us of the treasure that we have in being able to be friends to one another. May we think about our relationships with people as a means to show them a little more of the God that created everything and holds it all together.

Whether it's a phone call, a card, a coffee date, or a cleaning party - God gives us so very many opportunities to reach out to one another. May our reaching out not be for worthless things, but for more of Him. May we love one another and be friends with one another in a way that points all of us right back to the very source of friendship, namely God Himself.

Every single one of our friends was once a stranger to us in the same way that God and His grace went completely unnoticed. May we be the type of friends who help our friends to be glad that they know us. More importantly, I hope that we can all be the type of friends that make ignoring God and His grace impossible!

Be a friend today, take time to be with God and then share Him with those around you.

Take time to thank the friends who stand beside you doing the same thing.

It's friendship and it's beautiful.