Emerson came home today broken-hearted because her best friend is moving, a hazard of living in a Navy town with Navy friends. With crocodile tears streaming down her cheeks, she looked at me with her big blue eyes, and sobbed into my arms. "Mommy, who will I talk to now?"
Friends are so important in life. I know I've written about friends before in these pages. Friends are an important part of my life, of my kids' lives. We cherish the relationships that we make with people. And from a young age we learn that talking to our friends is an important function.
I had the privilege of working with my best friend for quite a while. She was just down the hallway, or just up the stairs whenever I needed her. Something would come up in my day and I'd run to her for advice. We ate lunch together almost every day. If I saw something that reminded me of her, I'd send her a quick email. I came to rely on her presence. She walked and guided me through a lot of stuff, both good and bad. We could sit and talk for hours, in person or on the phone. And she is one that sometimes just sitting in silence letting our hearts do the talking is the best.
But, she retired and doesn't work with me anymore. It was a rough time for me when she announced she was done. I shed a lot of tears and threw myself into making her last year at our school the best ever. Not sure if I was successful, but it helped me get through my pain of losing her daily presence.
But I survived her departure. And she and I have had honest conversations lately about how it was most likely the best thing that could have happened because I was running to her when I really should have been running to my Heavenly Father. I do that now! I still talk to my friend, but I also talk to God.
It talks about prayer a lot in the Bible. Jesus gave us prayers. Holy Spirit filled the disciples and they spoke in tongues. The word prayer is scattered throughout the Bible. As a lifelong Christian you would think that praying is my second nature, something I'd be super good at. Well, I'm not very good at it. At all. Even scripted prayers such as The Lord's Prayer, I panic halfway through that I'll forget lines or stumble over the words. It's not a strength of mine.
But you know what IS a strength of mine? Talking! I'm great at talking. To anyone usually...even myself! Ha! So, I have turned praying into talking. I haven't given up praying. I still pray and practice and recite the Lord's Prayer in those moments I just don't know what to say. But I have been talking with my Heavenly Father. And guess what? He talks back if you listen carefully. He wants so badly to have conversation with you! You just need to pause and be still and listen for His voice!
Father or Jesus or Holy Spirit want to be your best friend, whichever of the Holy Trinity you most often turn to. For me, it happens to be Father. On my walks during my lunch break I put my praise music into my ear buds, walk around the school campus, and talk to Father God about life. He cares! He wants to listen! He wants to help you journey through this life and find your way out of the dark. He wants to know your struggles and your passions. He's an always ready friend, waiting for you to share your day with Him.
I understand there is a different comfort in a flesh and bones friend, a warm body to sit next to and hold hands and laugh and chat and share your life with. I still do that part too. But I have put her back into the friend role rather than my Savior role. She is still my best friend and I still share lots with her. But I don't run to her with everything. I don't expect her to help me fix my problems. I don't have expectations for her other than to still be my best, earthly friend. We still have hours-long conversations filled with nothing and everything. We still laugh and talk and brainstorm ideas. And we have invited God to be part of our friendship and that has made it into something I never would have imagined.
So, talk to your friends. And be a listening ear for your friends. But don't forget about the Friend that loves you more than anything in the whole universe. He wants to talk to you too. He wants to be your listening ear. He wants to fix your problems for you and take care of you like His child that you are.
Talk to me...but talk to Him even more...
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