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read between the lines
friends "A friend is he who always knows When the cold wind of trouble blows Who comes in dark and stormy night With friendship's glowing lamp alight." -- Mason yup, i think the long-delayed time has come for me to put up a post on friends. the reason why i don't touch this area is, because....it can get pretty complicated, that's all i can say. but, having a look back on my friends past and present, i really gotta give a pat on the back to those who've remained. i mean, what better way to find out who your real friends are than the good old 'litmus test', which basically answers the question: can they accept you for who you are? now that my head's out of the fog (at least for now) and i'm not having one of those episodes where i can't see clearly, i do acknowledge the importance of friends. even though Jesus is truly the best friend of all, i still am grateful that He has provided the chosen few for me in times of need. and he still (amazingly) keeps adding to that number every time. thanks to all my beloved buddies whose friendships with me have stood the test of time. only by god's grace has he brought us this far. if i said i've never felt encouraged or had my spirits lifted at the times when i'm having a dark day and out of the blue a friend unkowingly sends / says something assuring to me, i would be lying. and if i said i have never felt like, hey, at least there's one person on earth who gives a shit about me or what i do when a friend shows concern about me, i would be lying through my teeth even more. it's also an undeniable feeling that the burden is always lighter when the suffering is shared, and the joy is always multiplied when the news of good tidings is shared. and of course there's the spiritual perspective of looking at it...that it's harder for the devil to strike us down when we're together than when we're apart. "If one falls down, his friend can help him up." (Ecclesiastes 4: 10). it says somewhere in Proverbs that rope is harder to break if it's in a cord than if it's just pieces of unbonded string. also, there are times when i see the Holy Spirit working in my friends and speaking to me through them too...and it's not just through advice: i've seen the Helper use them to get to me even in the most unexpected ways. oops. gotta go. it's late. p.s. this post has been edited. think i've said before, guess it's an incentive to be here in time to read the whole story before some of it gets taken down. hehe. |
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