“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Harold Whitman. I saw this quote the other day and when I read it, it was as if the words jumped right off the page and embraced me. I admit that I find myself a lot of times in survival mode, feeling like life has tied me to the whipping post, going through the motions, just trying to make it through until the next break comes along. Yet, when I stop for a moment and allow the winds of purpose to fan the flames of who I am and what I am here for, I feel that life rise up inside me like a blazing inferno and I know without a doubt it is these things that make ME come alive. (Part two)

Friendship. I love being a friend. In being a person in someone’s life they can count on. To laugh with them when they’re happy. To cry with them when they are sad. To listen when they need to talk. To bring a much-needed smile to their countenance when life has had its way with them. Someone to get together with for no reason at all except to enjoy each other’s company. True friendship has to be one of God’s greatest blessings, a reciprocal relationship. Proverbs 11:25 says, “Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” If you be a friend, God will ensure that you will have a friend. Just as He will move upon your heart to perform a small, thoughtful deed for someone, He will also drop in the spirit of a friend that you yourself is in need of refreshing. He may even send a sweet little one to your office with a bag of Lindor milk chocolate truffles at the very moment you need them the most! (the friend and the chocolate 🙂 )

There is comfort and security in an aged friendship, excitement and anticipation in the spark of a new relationship, the gift of someone God put into your life for a season to add priceless memories that time cannot erase. One of my favorite quotes is, “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” What a treasure to have someone you can share your innermost being with, who can know the good the bad and the ugly and still love you. Someone who will pick you up when you have fallen, who will hum the tune for you when your voice has been silenced by failure or dissappointment. Ecclesiastes 4 says, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble.” Another quote says, “A life without friends is like the sky without a sun.” What a dreadful place to be, alone with no friends! I would rather be in Alaska in 10 feet of snow than to ever find myself in that situation!

Companionship is the best of all friendships. Oh the joy when your best friend is the one you love AND are in love with . The one who puts the tune in your melody, the skip in your stride, the beat in your heart. The person that makes everything enjoyable just because they are there with you. Who will stick with you through every season of your life, through the ups and downs, the victories and challenges, the sunny times and the darkest hours. The one in whom your favorite place is simply laying in their arms. Genesis 2:18 says, “God said, ‘It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” The Bible also speaks of our relationship with Jesus as that of a bridegroom and His bride. Relationship and companionship was God’s idea from the beginning and, well, that is one idea that I really like (I fearfully admit that there are some things He says in His word that doesn’t always settle well with me, you know, the whole loving your enemy and women being silent stuff, I tend to debate those with Him). I love to meet couples who have been together for 20, 30, 40+ years and watch them still get that sparkle in their eyes when they are speaking of each other. Their stories are far greater than the best romance novelist could ever pen.

To love and be loved in return, to share your life with someone, to watch them light up because you walked in the room, to hold their hand when your walking through Lowes, to sit beside them instead of in front of them in a resturant because you want to be closer, to have them reach over and put their hand on your back when you are standing in a crowd, to think of something they said days before and laugh out loud. All these little things bring such deep satisfaction to my heart. They make me feel like King David when he sang about running through a troop and scaling a wall. (2 Samuel 22 if you want to read it, it’s great!) If I could achieve some great accomplishment, win the Nobel Peace Prize, merit a Presidential Medal of Honor, or be voted the most successful domestic engineer of all times and be recognized world-wide, but I had to do it alone, well, I’d rather eat potted meat for the rest of my life! Ugh! It is the people that make my life full of vigor and excitement. Add my spice to it and wow, what a life. 🙂
Part three coming soon…