As kids making friends is natural and even easy. I remember when I was 7. I was in math class. Our assignment was to measure different body parts, feet, hands, fingers, nose… we were to work with a partner. I was new to the school and didn’t have many friends yet. That day in math class my partner and I were excited. Every time we measured a part it was the same. Her foot was exactly the same length as mine! Her nose was too! Her fingers and hands were also! It made us giddy and joyful to be so similar. It also bonded us for life. She is still a friend 30 plus years later.

We all have friends. I hope so anyway! There are not many things better than having friends!  In fact the necessities of food, clothing, and shelter should include friendship. I think it’s important to have a variety of friends.  Some that you can confide everything to.  Some that are at a similar life stage as you and you can share your struggles with.  Some that are older and can give you wisdom.  Some that are younger and you can share your wisdom with.  Some that you have known forever and although you don’t see very often you can come together once in a while and feel like no time has passed.  Some that have the same views as you and some that have the opposite.  Some that you can be silly with and some that you can be serious with.  Some friendships have lasted more than 30 years and others have just been for a little while.  Some are just starting.  They are all treasured!

There is one friend whom I didn’t meet until my 20’s.  I would consider him my best friend.  He’s a friend I can sit quietly with.  He is a friend I can talk to about absolutely anything.  He holds me up when this world beats me down.  He encourages me, strengthens me, guides me, protects me, heals me, and best of all loves me no matter what.  He is polite and yet demanding but in such a gentle a way that always shows me truth.  He waits patiently for me to ask before he shares his wisdom.  He knows my heart better than I do.  Like my other friendships it takes work, time and energy, to keep in my life.   If I ignore him I feel the sting of his absence.  He is such a true friend he even gave his life for me.   Up until now you probably thought I was talking about my husband. Close but I’m talking about Jesus. The beautiful thing about friendship with him is that it is available to everyone.  I can spend 24hrs a day with Him and not be hogging all to myself.

My daughter is going to be in the play “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”.  It is the Christmas story reenacted by some mischievous little children.  It really is a funny play!  It is also touching.  The mischievous children don’t know Jesus.  They are fascinated when they hear his story.  When I first started to learn about Jesus and my faith I focused on the rules.  It took me time to develop a relationship with Jesus.  The “rules” however are not a moot point.  Friendship and the “rules” or commands go hand in hand.

“You are my friends if you do what I command you to do” Matthew 15:14

His commands are  really quite simple. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Ok so this is very simplified!  I am not a theologian I’m just a simple Jesus loving woman. Don’t be mislead.  Simple and easy are not the same.  It takes making difficult choices and sacrifices to simply love God and neighbor!

The one thing I regret is not sharing him with everyone I met.  It’s not as easy as walking up to someone and saying, “Hey this is Jesus.  Have you guys ever met?”  If you know him already I challenge you to get closer to him and share him with others!  If you don’t know him yet sit down or kneel down and ask him to revel himself to you.  Talk to him and he will guide you towards a beautiful friendship that will help you everyday for the rest of your life.  And when your life here is over he will lead you to eternity with him!

In this season of cooling temperatures and less sunshine we need to focus more on our friendships to get us through. Jesus is always with us even in these dark months but it can be more difficult as an adult to make human friends and maintain human friendships. You don’t get paired up to measure body parts anymore. We can be so busy with family life weeks pass before we realize we haven’t even texted a certain friend. It’s time to put friendships on the todo list!