An Inkling
Make new friends, and keep the old; one is silver
and the other gold. We sang that as a round when I was a child, and already
at that age the silver of the song was available. But now I’m discovering first hand the gold,
and what a great gift it is!
Most
people delight in the silver of new friendships. It’s an adventure to get to know new people,
learning why they are the way they are, being stretched by their new ways of
seeing life, etc. That is a true gift of
God from our youngest years, and one that continues on into later years. Even at 59, it is still thrilling to make new
friends.
But the
pleasures of long-term friendships are new.
This week I’ve discovered more of just how golden such friendships
are. Friends in Richmond offered us the
use of a house in Hot Springs for a few days, so we invited some old friends to
join us – Ray, Diane, Rob, and Sharon.
We met the
Cobbs and Sherrards initially when we all showed up together at Union Seminary,
preparing for pastoral ministry. Our
common evangelical commitments drew us close, as we weathered some hard seasons
at a school which often looked askance at us.
So we had that in common.
And actually
much more. We were also with each other for
births and first birthdays. Sharon gave
a baby shower for our first child (who by God’s surprising way is now her
daughter-in-law), and Diane made the cake for Rob & Sharon’s daughter’s
first birthday, etc. Maternity and baby
clothes were shared, along with parental woes and wows.
Then we
all headed off to serve churches, hundreds of miles apart. So we would see each other only periodically. But our children added to the family
intersections. As teens they served at
camps together, and some went to college with each other. Ray pastored Rob and Sharon’s son and our
daughter (who were married by then), etc.
Every few years we would get to gather for reunions, and would talk and
pray our way through family, church, and denominational challenges.
So to the silver
of forming friendships, the Lord has added the gold of decades-long friendships. Both offer a foretaste of his gifts in
heaven, where such golden friendships will stretch unto forever, and where
we’ll be hard-pressed ever to exhaust the silver of new friendships. Think of all the faithful from across the
globe and the generations. That’s a lot
of silver! The silver and gold of
friendships now is but a bare glimpse of what the Lord has in store for us all.
Who but
the Lord can give such gifts?! To honor
such a Friend, to whom might you be a friend today?
Blessings,
Keith
