Man's Best Friend

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”  (John 15:13)

As a little girl, I loved to visit my friend Jeanette.  She was older than I and, to me, oh, so beautiful.  She had dark hair and dark eyes.  I was several years younger with a boy haircut called a ducktail, blue and white checkered glasses, and knobby knees.  I could go into her bedroom and open her big, deep dresser drawer full of nothing but paper dolls, and play for hours.

For many years I had been so very busy with children, my husband's occupation, and my illness, that I let many family members and friends go.  I do  have a few close friends who have hung onto me throughout the process.

But in visits home to see my dad before he died, I got in touch with family I didn't know, and friends I had not seen for years.  I loved spending time with them and with my dad.  Along with those new friends, I also have friends with whom I take off my mask.  I tell them my innermost thoughts and struggles.  I feel that nothing can separate us.

Are we willing to let someone take the mask off with us?  For us to take it off with them?  We can face the fear of rejection with a smile because we are totally accepted in Christ.  It does take wisdom to know which person we allow in.  Those whom we enter into their world and suffer, rejoice, and limp with them.  It can be uncomfortable.  We may want to rescue them and fix their world.  And we also want to be loved and accepted by them.  Even corrected when necessary, with the grace of our Savior.  Or we may just need someone to listen and care.

These friendships point to the greatest of all relationships.  The friendship of Jesus Christ.  I can lay my heart and mind bare before Him.  He is my very best friend.  No matter what I tell Him He will not reject, leave, or stop loving me.  He is closer than a brother.

Christ is jealous for me and is relentless to have my whole heart.  Not part given to Him and part to some idol such as in an adulterous relationship (like the woman at the well).

Christ opens His deep drawer full of His endless, eternal riches, and I just drown myself in the sea of His grace.  Sometimes we just listen to the silence, remembering His love for me.  The rest of the world grows dim.

Lord, sometimes we fail each other.  Your love never fails.  You were the sacrifice we could never be.  Only through spending time with You can we know selfless love.