Friend

We have been best friends since we were sixteen. (That’s a lot of years). We joke about how we live parallel lives – but that may just be because every time we speak we say, “yes! That’s exactly how I’m feeling too!” and we laugh and suddenly the world feels different, because we thought we were the only one, and there is such comfort in someone understanding you, really getting you.

We went to Paris as teenagers, splashed in a fountain even though we weren’t sure if we were supposed to, because it was too darn hot, and we weren’t going to get drunk and go clubbing in Paris because although that sounded exciting it also sounded dangerous and a little too much effort (we went back to our grubby little room instead and read books); but we were teenagers, dammit! and we would splash in a fountain, even if we weren’t allowed to. We browsed French second-hand books in the Latin quarter and talked philosophy by the Sacré Coeur, and tasted proper cheese fondue in a tiny little bistro in a back street.

It is a privilege to have a friend who has known you like that, for such a long time. I am thankful. I miss her. She lives too far away and is threatening to go farther. And who can I talk to about that?

There is one, I am reminded, and I stop to ponder the great privilege that he calls us friends, not just children, not just servants; that he confides in us about what He is doing and invites us to confide in Him.
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15 NIV)

Joining with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five-minute-Friday. This was my best five minutes on ‘friend’.

Over to you:

• Do you have a best friend?
• What does it mean to you that Jesus calls us friends?

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