Friday, January 10, 2020

My teenage daughter Olivia gave me the book Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are (365 Devotions) by Shauna Niequist, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I was moved by this quote: “I believe friendship is God’s greatest evidence of himself here on earth. Everyone needs a home team: a go-to, show-up, middle-of-the-night, come-in-without-knocking tribe that gets them through when things fall apart.” Wow! Not only do I believe those words and strive to live them for the ones I love, but thanks to the blessing of my faithful friends, my family experienced that loving support after Evelyn’s accident.

The wise women in my Scripture study often speak of the important attitude and call to action to simply “Show up!” when those we love face trials. Of course, we may cover those suffering in prayer, but sometimes our mere presence is a comfort, and any action we decide to take (a text, a meal, an offer to help) is a sign of love. I was amazed when a friend reached out after my family returned from 12-hours of travel with an offer to pick up anything we needed from three stores where she planned to run errands. I thanked her and declined, not knowing where to begin – my list was so long! However, the next day she shared that she is expecting her fifth baby! She is in the throes of exhaustion from mothering four small children while pregnant, yet unsolicited, she offered to serve my family to meet needs she knew we had – no food in the house. Unbelievable.

On the same note, in the 1/6/20 Rosary Meditation podcast from Mike Scherschligt of Holy Family School of Faith, he quoted a beautiful Scripture which I included in Hope Upon Impact. Sirach 6:14-16, “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy.” We all fully recognize the gift of steadfast friendship. Then, during Mass this week, Fr. Tony’s homily reflected upon “God is love.” He reminded us that Jesus is within each of us, so as we treat one another (“the least of our brothers”), so we treat Jesus. There are times when I remind my children of this regarding their sibling interactions. We should always strive to love one another and let our actions reflect love, but in our frail human nature sometimes the latter is hard. These powerful concepts must further spur us to strive to be Jesus to one another. I feel a shoulder tap from God to reflect upon the rich blessings of reliable, true, sacrificial friendship and never take the life-enhancing gift for granted. Let us all aim to be good friends today. We can make the world a better place.

Have faith. Hope on! God is good.