Time goes by and life moves on. I think I honestly forget that I have this blog. Perhaps it’s that I’m just too busy to sit down and provide my eloquent thoughts to the world. Perhaps my thoughts are just too tied up in knots. Perhaps I just need some good news before I feel like publishing. Or, and most likely, perhaps I just don’t have anything profound to say!!!!

Profound or not, here I go. What hot topic can I choose today? The economy? How a family recovers from a lay-off and struggles through a serious decline in income? Fears for the health of our loved ones? The trials and tribulations of parenting a teenage daughter and elementary school son? How to manage a schedule that rules you instead of you ruling it?

All of those are worthy topics; some being more depressing than others, but I really don’t think I have anything mind-boggling to share on those subjects. Instead, I think I’ll share what the Lord has done to me in terms of fellowship and friendship.

Eight or so years ago, I had just become a stay-at-home mom. I was excited and overjoyed that I was given such a blessed opportunity to be there for my children all day. We lived in our townhome at the time and had one of those rare neighborhoods in which everyone knew everyone else and gathering in the yard for impromptu evening chats where common place. I don’t recall the exact day that I meet my friend, but I do recall that she had a spark to her. She just shined. She and I lived across the street in this ‘Mayberry’ neighborhood (ok….that’s an exaggeration…but I do miss that closeness we had then). She was a stay-home mom too and we seemed to be the only ones around during the day.

Our friendship quickly developed into trips to the playground, walks in the mall, shared Bible study, phone calls to get through our days and best of all…..shared evening snacks when one of us had a particularly good desert! She is a Christian, hence that shine I saw when we first meet. Our parenting styles were similar and our theologies in tune. We both desired to raise our children for the Lord and to strive to do His will in our lives. I learned a great deal from her those years I lived across the street from her. If I had to pick one thing in particular it would be patience. That has always been something I lacked, but through my friend, I gained more of it than I thought I could.

Four years ago, this week, we moved out of that townhouse. The neighborhood was changing. My friend and several other neighbors had moved in the months prior. It was a happy and a sad day. You always wonder when you move away from a friend if the friendship will remain, if it will stand across the gap of distance. After all, who could I share my desert with?

The past few months have been difficult for my family. We’ve had to make some very big adjustments. I simply don’t have enough time in my day to just call a friend and spend a half hour chatting. Things have changed for my friend too. She has 5 children now and home schools. Her schedule is just as crazy as mine, but the other day she and I had this fabulous conversation. The kind you can only have with a true friend. The kind that can only occur when Christ is the center of the friendship.

I had some earthly worries that I was ‘venting’ to her. She was so wonderful. She listened and understood what I was going through and then she began to tell me about a wonderful prayer experience she had. How she was dwelling on a verse about the Lord lifting us on wings like eagles. As she prayed for wisdom regarding the verse, she looked up and saw a hawk just gliding. Not flapping his wings, just gliding. Gliding higher than the oriole, house sparrow or hummingbird would go, high enough to see great distance. So high, yet resting comfortably on the wind, gliding. I won’t interpret what she saw, but how wonderful it was to, when I was full of earthly worries; have a friend who could bring my focus back to the Lord.

She is a great friend. We hardly ever get to lay our eyes on one another anymore. We certainly don’t talk daily. Sometimes a couple weeks will go by without us speaking. But the joy of this friendship in Christ is that it does not require ‘maintenance’. It only requires true love for one another and the knowledge that we are there for each other no matter what. Our busy schedules may keep us from regular contact, but the joy of this friendship is, our busy schedules can’t and won’t stop the love of two dear friends and the joy of Christ between them.

Thank you my dear friend! I don’t think I say that often enough!