Friendship

Friendship

Friendship is like rainbow sprinkles brightening a sweet-life Sundae. Friends care and share; share kindness, laughter, tears, special moments, and warm advice as they walk with us through the changing seasons of life.

Friendship means opening up; opening up the windows of our heart to let sunbeams warm our soul. It means trusting someone to treat us kindly. It means throwing open the doors of our life to joyful discoveries, to learning, growing, and becoming a new me … and doing the same for someone else.

Friendship has been with man since the beginning. Adam spent many rich moments in the Garden of Eden, enjoying God’s wonderful companionship as they chatted about all kinds of interesting and engaging things. Then God brought him a new friend in the form of Eve. So there was man-with-God friendship and human-with-human friendship, for God has designed us to connect on both vertical and horizontal planes of reality.

I did not always have many friends, but I made God my very best one, trusting Him to add others to my life in the beauty of time; and He has certainly done that. Indeed, God gave me a very special pal even before I came to really know Him, and she was the one who showed me that walking with God was always meant to be as natural as breathing.

I remember my best high school friend and I having many rich conversations as we strolled around our school grounds on afternoons after class was out. We seemed to never run out of things to talk about. She knew God very well, and one day as we sat under the trees at school she asked me, “Would you like to know God as a friend?” I thought it sounded very inviting … and that’s where my journey of friendship with God began.

Though we were only teenagers at the time, I could not have asked for a more loyal friend. Wendy-Kaye (that was her name) always encouraged me in my walk with God, always prayed for me, always had a sparkle in her eyes and a chuckle on her lips, and always shared well-seasoned advice, interesting life stories and lots of silly jokes. Spiritually speaking, she was ahead of our time and mature beyond her years.

In the Proverbs 27:9 it says: Ointment and perfume delight the heart / And the sweetness of a man’s friend / gives delight by hearty counsel. My high school friendship was a doorway into friendship with God. When I opened my window to God, I saw sunshine, and I saw rainbows; and when there was drizzle or rain, He was always faithful to pour sunbeam encouragement into my heart, either through the immediate grace of His direct speaking, or through the divinely-inspired input of other people.

Over the years, God has added many friends to my life. Some of them know God personally and some of them do not. Some of us are always perfect chums and for others, we may sometimes have our moments. Still, no matter the ins-and-outs of how we relate, I value my friendships highly and especially treasure life-long ones.

Each of my pals is a bright sprinkle of colour on my sweet-life Sundae. They give me joy, they lend me strength, they put a dance in my steps, a smile on my lips, and fill my memory-lane strolls with heart-warming reminiscing. Each is a lovely ribbon of colour in God’s rainbow-Promise to do me only good all the days of my life. Friendship is a gift from God.