It was cold out today. But I didn’t care, or so I thought. I went on with my day, dressed like it was spring. Winter may be having her last tryst, here in the south, but I pretended like the weather was warm wearing a short sleeved shirt and going bare foot in my little flats.
After attending my nephew’s first birthday party, I found out I did mind after all. I was chilled to the bone. And needed a nice hot drink. Thankfully I had plans for coffee with a friend at Starbucks.
Life can be complicated. Sometimes I find myself a little colder than I’d like. I am a social butterfly, no doubt. But, often I’m at home alone with my kids and honestly I get lonely. I need a friend. a warm smile. adult conversation. Who doesn’t?
Yesterday, I had a chat with my Heavenly Father about it. I told him how my heart was feeling a little low. He promised that He was here with me, that He loved me. Often that is enough for my spirits and I can move on with life. But yesterday it was not. I needed His promises to have skin on them- tangible evidence. I asked Him if He could meet me for coffee?
And He did.
But, its not like you’re thinking. This afternoon, my good friend met me at Starbucks for coffee. The warmth of our friendship and our steamy beverages warmed my body and my spirit. She probably doesn’t know it, but she was Jesus for me today. There is nothing as promising as the smile of a good friend and nothing as hopeful as a conversation full of encouraging words. Jesus met me for coffee, at Starbucks in Hixson, Tennessee, in the form of my friend.
I really do believe this is how it works. One of the ways I can experience the loving kindness of my Heavenly Father, is through the friendships He provides. And, one of the ways that I can share that love is to do the same for others who need His friendship.
1John 4:7-16 describes this perfectly:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
And so it is. The love of God himself, is in those of us who know Him personally. He asks us to freely love one another. This makes it absolutely possible that I really did have coffee with Him today, because of the friendship He has provided.
Thank you Heavenly Father for each of the friends in my life who regularly share your love with me. How I’ve come to rely on it! Help me to remember to share that same love with those you place in my path each day. amen.
and thank you my dear friend! Your friendship means the world to me! md
daily portion 