Friend Investments

I think I have had a wrong view of friendship. You see, I defined friendship as a feel good, always agree, continuously together type of relationship. And since it always looked easy for others, I thought, “Why not for me too?”

So I have this image of it being effortless. As a result, I picture myself running into someone who would go out of his or her way to get to know me with little or no encouragement from me. There is the folly. As friendship is mutual, my image could not be true friendship.

As you can see my perspective was selfish, but real friendship is always selfless or looking to the needs of others. Okay, but is it easy? I think it is for some people more than others, but with that, deep friendship takes active pursing. Truth is, friendship is not trouble-free. Actually the converse is true, for a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (Proverbs 17:17). Just the same, it is easy to forget this. Remember then, God calls us to love our neighbors selflessly. So what does that say about our intimate relationships?

Now I see, friendship is like an investment. You have to give a little to get more in return, but you always have the danger of losing. Do not let this danger control you. Be a friend! Invest!

Rose from Brier (Excerpt)

by Amy Carmichael


Thou hast not that, my child, but thou hast Me
And am not I alone enough for thee
I know it all, know how thy heart was set
Upon this joy which is not given yet…

I know it all; but from thy brier shall blow
A rose for others. If it were not so
I would have told thee, come, then say to me:
“My Lord, my Love, I am content with Thee”

(I first heard these words from a CD my brother gave me for my birthday)

Echo of a Tune

Loneliness is not a feeling; it is an innate sense of longing for someone.

C.S. Lewis said:

“These things⎯the beauty, the memory of our own past⎯are good images of what we really desire... but they are only a scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited.”

I think this is also true of loneliness. The people and things we long for cannot fill our loneliness completely. For each possession is an echo. Only the person of Jesus Christ can take our loneliness away.