The Road of Friendship

 

 



It was once told to me that the very best of friends should only contact each other once, or twice, a year.

I am so far down on some friendship lists, that I should not expect to hear from such friends for 5, 10, or maybe 20 years.

Heck, I expect to be dead and buried in the grave before I am contacted by others.

Dare I initiate contact with them without permission?

This is a sad commentary on friendship, indeed.

Someone else has said:
A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Also:
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
And finally:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

I have such a Friend.

We have walked together since I was but a child, yet the road He chooses is narrow.
It is strewn with rocks, and even boulders.

There are ruts and tree roots to avoid.

Also, many streams to ford.

There are wild beasts that would devour me.
This road mostly leads through the valleys.

Sometimes we climb to the top of the mountains.
As I grow older, one might think that I have become a seasoned traveler on this road.

Yet with age, I only seem to fall more than I did as a youth.
When I was a young, I often ran ahead with anticipation.

Now I am only weary.

Yet, my Friend and I travel on.
Sometimes we talk.

Sometimes we walk side by side in silence.
The road winds through the forest now.

The sights and sounds of creation still awe even such an aged traveler as myself.

My spirit is renewed within me by the beauty.
Alas, I see the valley of the shadow of death up ahead.

With my Friend's help, we will traverse that valley as we have many before.
Beyond that, He tells me of a city, His city.

He comforts me with stories of its great beauty.

I find myself yearning for His city.

My Friend and I will spend an eternity there.

Such is what He promises me.
Once we have reached His city, and my new home, I think we will not return by this narrow road every again.

Used by permission of: "he who is of a contrite and humble spirit"

[photo courtesy of CornerStoneCowboy Images]