“As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” 1 Samuel 18:1 ESV
I have a friend like that. We met when I was twelve. She’d been in a horrible automobile accident. I remember the first time I went into her room and saw her in a body cast, she smiled at me with the whitest teeth and her eyes lit up brighter than a lightning bug. And everything in me wanted nothing more than to be her friend.
I’ve never laughed as much as when I’m with Laurie. We always seem to know just what to say to make each other better people. From hair spraying Palmetto bugs to the wall at the beach, to riding bikes, learning to drive a stick-shift, crying over Barry Manilow songs, and letting our boat get away from us at Lake Sinclair, we found ourselves in each other.
Time is as fluid as water. It flows regardless of the direction we want to go. People come into our lives and leave. But, there are always those who come into our hearts and stay.
There are very few memories of my teenage years of which Laurie isn’t a part. We got married a month a part from one another in our early twenties and had little girls several years later only months a part. I moved to Florida. She moved back to our home town of Dublin, Georgia.
Despite the distance, I always knew she was there.
Years later when my world fell apart, I called her. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t spoken for years. She didn’t even ask for an update. The sound of my voice was all she needed, and I knew God had knitted our souls together. As she cried with me over my divorce, my brokenness, my fear, I thought of all we had dreamed together. I thought of all we hoped would happen, and all we desired in life. It didn’t really matter that very little of what we thought our lives would be, actually were our lives. It only mattered that we’d dreamed it together.
Laurie has been in my life what I needed at the time I needed it, and I have been what she needed when she needed it.
Jonathan and David were the same. Even though Jonathan’s father wanted to murder David, Jonathan never forgot his vow of friendship to David. They were both what each other needed.
Friendships require hardships. They are never easy, but they are one of God’s greatest provisions because He knows exactly why we need one another.
Friendships say, “I trust you with my heart.”
Today, thank God for the friends in your life. Thank Him for the richness they bring, the laughter they cause, the comfort they give, and the dreams they share with you, even if those dreams never actually come true.
