A Friend's Heart

My imagination takes me places that I find hard to describe in the spoken word. But for some reason I find words come easier to me when I write them down. I guess this is why I’ve had this desire to write my thoughts down since high school. Paper and pencil…no, but since I can type about as fast as I can think…the computer works out so much better for me.

A few months ago, a friend visited me at work…well she was looking for a coworker, but she was out, and her only option was me. She needed someone to type a journal letter she had written. I think she was afraid to share it with me at first, but I promised to be discreet, and really, she needed me. In typing that letter, reading her personal thoughts, I realized she was just like me. This woman…beautiful & talented… was thinking and writing down thoughts that were so like my own, but so much more insightful. If this woman’s thoughts were similar to mine, then there must be more out there like us.

Since that day, I’ve searched the hearts of my friends. I asked hard questions, shared heart warming and gut wrenching experiences. I even confided some of my deepest, darkest secrets, which was very hard to do because of a painful experience with a woman I thought I could trust. All of this only to find that they all shared the same fears, the same sorts of desires, the same doubts, the same daily trials. In the past few months, experiencing my friends in this new light, God has stretched my heart and opened my mind to a new philosophy: listening is much better than speaking; hugs & smiles open doors; encouragement writes a memory on the heart; and prayer brings peace & healing.

My challenge is to make a deeper connection with your friends…make a point of tending to them…not you. Start with one – don’t overwhelm yourself – and as that friendship grows, watch God work in your life and theirs.

Phillipian 2:1-4 (NIV) 1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.