True Friends

This past weekend my wife and I invited a couple over for dinner and to enjoy the sunset at our beach house. We really like them and have known them for over 20 years. In fact, our youngest daughter and their youngest daughter were best friends growing up. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see them as often since we moved away from the Rancho Santa Margarita area.

At first glance they would probably appear to be just your ordinary average couple. They live in a typical south Orange County neighborhood and are loving parents to four really great children who are now young adults. But once you get to know them, you can see that there is something very different and very special about them. But first let me tell you a little bit about them.

They are both really good athletes, who run, ride bicycles, and play volleyball on a regular basis. They are heavily involved in their church and always have been. They give whatever extra money they have to their church and to support ministries related to their Christian faith. They smile a lot and always seem extremely happy together, holding hands and kissing each other quite often, so they are definitely still in love despite being married for over 30 years. In fact, they seem to just “love life”! In addition, they must love most other people too because I have never heard either one of them say a bad word about anyone. They spend most of their time praising people and because of that, they have a huge flock of friends that totally love and respect them back. They are not rich with money, but I truly believe they wouldn’t be any happier if they won the lottery. They are already as happy as they can be because of their faith and love for each other.

When they got ready to leave, something popped into my head, so I stopped them at the door. I said, “Thank you for coming over. We consider your friendship very special for many reasons, but there’s one reason why that might surprise you. Whenever we spend time with you, we feel better about ourselves! It’s almost like you have this loving aura about you that rubs off on the people you spend time with.  

And that got me thinking… I wonder if that is what it was like back in the time of Jesus. I wonder if people felt better about themselves just by being around Him. I am not saying that these two friends of mine are angels sent from heaven, but I definitely believe they will both end up being “angels in heaven” someday. And in the meantime, they’ve opened up my eyes to what true friendship is all about. If you love life, love the Lord, and love all others, you can’t help but be a true friend to all who come across your path.

A true friend is that rare person who will ask you how you are… 

and then actually wait for the answer.

~ Anonymous