FRIENDS For The Road

To continue my last post about friends...

I first saw this phrase, friends for the road, in a Reader's Digest article a few years ago and it has come to mind many times since then. Indeed, most of our friends are of this quality, from childhood to adulthood. They come into our lives-perhaps for just an hour or maybe for several years. Some leave our side for awhile and later on down the road they may join us again on life's journey. Others leave, never to be seen or heard from again. It's just one of those sad facts of life. Or should I say bittersweet?...for they contributed to our life and we are better for it.

They do that in various ways. Some bring us joy, others teach us lessons, still others just keep us company in times of need. All of them together make our lives complete in one way or another. We need to cultivate these friendships for they make our journey easier and more enjoyable and we do the same for them! 

The beautiful thing is that "one or two" of these may end up becoming friends of the highest level. I will talk about those at a later date.

"A man that hath friends must show himself friendly..." (Proverbs 18:24)

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor, for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up." (Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10)

FRIENDS For The Moment

As we go through life God sends us friends...friends of different qualities, on different levels, for different reasons, for different lengths of time...
The first one I will call "friends for the moment". These are the people that we normally would not even give the title of friend, but friends they are nonetheless, for they give of themselves to us, even though it be for just a moment in time.

How much more pleasant is our life because of those many friends-for-the-moment! The courtesy of a salesperson, the smile of a passer-by, the handshake of someone as you visit a new place, the helping hand of another as you are loaded down with pain or grief...or just a heavy armload of books (!)...These are the things that put joy in our hearts and make us think "life is beautiful, after all!"

We may have never seen that person before or ever see them again or ever know their name. But without them we would not survive as well. They are gifts from His loving hands!

And who knows if that friend for the moment may not develop into being more than just that...?!

"A man that hath friends must show himself friendly..." (Proverbs 18:24)

"Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)

Favorite Foto Friday #6

A granddaughter with her Granddad...

(Grand)"Children are an heritage of the Lord..." (Psalm 127:3)

Raindrops On Roses

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
 Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
 Brown paper packages tied up with strings
 These are a few of my favorite things..."

I was reminded of this song when I saw my roses this morning, deliciously drenched after last night's heavy rain. For sure, this is one of my favorite things! I've taken many photos of raindrops on roses but I just had to take yet another one...

"I will praise Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works." (Psalm 9:1)

New and Clean and Beautiful

 

      

One of the gifts I received for Christmas last week was a beautiful little notebook...just the motivation I needed to try and have a daily journal as I have done off and on during my life. 

    

  

I've mentioned before that I love new things...especially a new notebook. The unused, clean, empty, white pages are just an irresistible temptation to WRITE...write anything! Whether it's a journal of the day's happenings, a to-do list (umm, that's not me), a poem or just a record of my grandkids' names and birthdates, these beautiful pages are like a magnet to my pen.

    

I like to compare new notebooks to my life. "This day is the first day of the rest of your life" is like this first new page that I wrote on this morning. 

What the page or completed notebook looks like will all depend on what I write. What each day or the rest of my life looks like will depend on what I do and am.

My life is like this rosebud, it has the potential to be beautiful and a blessing to those who see it.

"Lord, give us the courage, wisdom, strength, dedication and love to You so that we may fulfill the potential that You desire for our lives."

                                                                

"...but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3: 13,14)