I am very blessed to have great friends. I have friends that I have known all my life like Kathleen and new friends like Ben. I have friends that make me laugh hysterically and some that I can openly grieve with, without fear of rejection. I also have friends, two that I know 100% would die for me. I am very, very blessed.
If you know me at all, you know I have an enduring love for people. I am often described as engaging and friendly. I am known as being very relational, but this also comes with some risks. Not every one is willing to be vulnerable and honest the way unconditional friendships require. Some people take a great deal of time to trust others and they build walls around themselves so love cannot penetrate their walls. Some people sadly never learn how profound true friendship can be. This is sad to someone like me who easily loves and is willing to work through problems to have great friendships.
Some of my best friends are also the people who will be be most honest with me. They love me enough to tell me the truth when I make mistakes. They love me enough to say, "Pamela, you have done wrong" and love me enough to stay friends with me when I do make mistakes.
My Spiritual Sister Adele can be very angry at me in one moment and then offer me a cup of tea in the next(this is strange for some). We do not hold grudges and most days we are 100% honest and authentic in our friendship. I count on her truthfulness and love everyday and she counts on mine. I simply love her. That love is based on a mutual understanding that God has given to each of us a person who will every day die for the other. It is a friendship that is Christ centered and Christ nurtured. Therefore, it is a friendship where much time is spent working on always seeking her best, always trying to find ways to serve her in the healthiest ways. I have a very similar friendship with another who I know unconditionally loves me, for this other person I give great thanks and thanks for the way he always seeks the best for me.
My great experiences with intimate friendships makes me often ponder the types of friendships that Jesus had. Of course there was his relationship with the disciples and Nicodemus, but many times I wonder about him and Lazarus.
We all know the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but I think there was so much more to that relationship. The very fact that Jesus went back to the town where the authorities said they would stone him, to save his friend is remarkable. The Bible also tells us of two people Jesus loved. 1, was the Beloved Disciple and the other Lazarus. (Gospel of John) Jesus indeed loved Lazarus and I would like to think they were very good friends. Jesus also stays at Lazarus house on the Saturday before he is crucified (Gospel of John 12). And after the crucifixion the disciples hid in Bethany.
Bethany and Lazarus' house were often the places Jesus and the disciples visited, this does not surprise me as I too often visit the towns where my good friend are and often go to their homes when I am in need of comfort. I am glad Jesus had such good friends and more so that Jesus loves all of us and has called all of us,his followers, friends. He said, "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you Friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. "This I command you, that you love one another". (Gospel of John) I am very thankful that my friends have taken this new commandment to heart-I am very blessed indeed!
