A TRIP WITH FRIENDS

I spent the weekend with my twin sister and hubby. Their daughter, Ann, accompanied me to their summer home on the Keweenaw Peninsula of upper Michigan. The warmth and wind prompted us to check out the Gratiot River beach, where we took dozens of photos of the waves, woods, and other wanderers like ourselves.

The trip home offered more eye-appealing pleasures in the form of trillions of Large-flowered Trillium. The beautiful flowers, growing along a twenty-mile stretch of forest, carpeted the woods and roadsides like a blanket.

The three-petaled blooms remind me of the Trinity. Regal. Pure white. Each petal equal in size to the other. The word Trillium comes from the Latin “tres” for three and “lilium” for lily. “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” (Song of Solomon 2:1)

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVES  by Sally Bair

Best Friends Forever

If you’re like I am, you’ve had many friends throughout your life, but only a handful of best friends. You know the kind—a Best Friend Forever (called a BFF in the social media world) with whom you can share your deepest secrets and feelings without fear of betrayal. A best friend is someone who will be there for you when you’re hurting and when you’re rejoicing. A best friend will even put their reputation or life on the line to defend you.

Changes happen, however, that can jeopardize our relationship with a BFF. Let’s face it, we all mess up sometimes. Maintaining any close relationship takes work. The love and care that we give our BFF needs to be supplemented with an attitude of humility. Patience doesn’t hurt, either. Nor sacrifice of our time and even our money, if needed. We don’t always have to agree with one another. Like Mutt and Jeff, we can still listen, advise, and love.

A BFF can be more than a blessing. A BFF can be a life-saver—someone we can count on to help us through our tough times. 

Jesus wants to be our Best Friend Forever, too. Before His betrayal by Judas, Jesus spoke to His disciples about friendship. “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:14-15)

Friendship with God first requires us to be His follower. As such, He wants us to abide, or remain in His love. We must refuse to leave Him even to the point of being willing to lay down our lives for Him—as did His disciples. Paul urges us, in Romans 12, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. Such sacrifice includes obedience to Him.

Unlike BFF relationships on the human level, we can have a spiritual BFF relationship with Christ. We can share our deepest secrets and feelings with Him and we can count on Him to be with us through our tough times. We can be assured that, if we choose to trust and obey Him, nothing will change that special Best Friend Forever relationship with Him.

Lord, thank You for Your enduring, secure love and friendship which gives us joy and peace. Help us, through our willing obedience by Your Spirit’s power, to abide and remain in Your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.