Good Friends

There is just not anything in the world as good as when you find someone who loves the stuff you love.  I don't mean who loves you, though that is just pretty cool too!  I mean those people who find the same things funny without having to explain why.   Who make eye contact with you, when something funny has just happened, and you both fall out laughing, or bite your lip to keep from doing something.  Isn't that delightful?

Or the people who love to go shopping with you, for the same things you like to go shopping for.  Who are happy wandering aimlessly, or love finding the bargain.  Who will notice you wearing, or carrying, or decorating with that one of a kind, on sale today only item and relive the joy of discover with you, over and over again.  Isn't that amazing?

Or the people who have read the same books you have read and have the same response or questions or articulate perfectly for you what you thought.  I think people who can summarize my thoughts are worth their weight in oil (if that is more precious than gold these days).  I want to applaud!  They always make me sound smarter than I am, and how wonderful is that!

Or how about those people who know how to brew the best coffee.  I love those people!  I love the first sip and the delightful surprise at how awesome this particular coffee tastes.  I think these people have some secret recipe or perhaps they have a brown thumb, but their coffee is worth driving to get and their conversation is always as good as their coffee.  I love these folks, aren't they remarkable?

I guess my favorite folks are those who are as comfortable as a old pair of shoes.   Who always seem to fit and who make me fit, who can talk for hours or not at all, who will always tell you if you have green stuff in your teeth or it you need to pull up your zipper, and some how not make you feel stupid.  I love that you can tell them the outrageous thing you have just done and they laugh with you, or cry with you, or just love you in your horror.  I believe these people belong in the beatitudes; as blessed are you who make others at home, for yours is the heart of God.  I know God dotes on them.

Since they are so delightful, I am left to wonder why it is there are not more of them.  Why are they as rare as diamonds and when you find one, it's all you can do not to  handcuff them to your side so you wont lose them ever again.  I am confused why the Body of Christ is not a vast sea of like-mindedness and shared vision and this kind of relationship that feeds the soul so much.  Surely this is what the Body ought to do for one another.  Paul says the same kind of thing in Philippians 2:

¹ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

I confess freely that I am not more like-minded than anyone else.  I like things my way, I am not always tender or compassionate, and I am not at all sure I value others above myself.  I try, really I do.  I walk into a conversation all gracious, and kind, and caring, and I walk out at times feeling frustrated, violated and fed up.  In those golden moments when the opportunity occurs for me to connect, as Paul calls me to do, it is always  a blessing, a gift and a life affirming moment, and I want more, more, more.  How is it that I forget all this so quickly when the environment isn't so conducive for fellowship?  Is it that I am called to create this for others, rather than worry if it is being created for me?  Is it that my pride keeps me from making the attempt to be like-minded?  Is it that when broken people collide, without the grace of God, injury occurs from the jagged edges? 

Maybe the secret is in delighting in being the kind of person others can laugh with, who can summarize thought well, who feels like a pair of comfortable old shoes to the world around them.  Wonder how letting Christ be Lord of my life, and letting others just be fellow pilgrims, would change how we interact.   Maybe it truly is in giving that we receive, in seeking that we find, in dying to self that we find life in Christ.  Having the same love, being in the same Spirit, having the same mind, all centered in Christ, sounds like the  Just maybe.

Coffee, anyone?