A Friend

Why is this so difficult? I grunted and whined as I pried my eye open with my fingers, trying—with surgeon-like precision—to get my contact to go on my eyeball correctly! But my eye had a brain of its own. It refused to cooperate. Sigh. Contacts were a new thing in my life during college, and I did not love them.

I had a friend who would help me get them in. But could I call her . . . again? I looked at my clock. Classes started in thirty minutes. No time to waste. I grabbed my phone, called her, and in no time, she was at my doorstep with a smile, ready and willing to touch my eyeball. There is nothing like a good friend.

Friends are the best. When I was a preschooler, my friends and I played pretend together. In elementary school, my friends and I played sports together. As preteens, we survived puberty together. When I was a teenager, my friends navigated the road to adulthood alongside me.

Through each age and stage of my life, friends have been by my side, from sleeping over and enjoying girls’ nights out to enduring tough times. Sometimes, friends grow apart during life’s changing seasons, or they part ways for other reasons. Even now I love my girls! I trust them. I like them. I want to be around them. I can count on them. They are my sisters. We have each other’s backs.

In John 15:15, Jesus says we are his friends. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that hard to understand. Jesus is my Lord, my Savior, the boss of my life, but my friend? What? That seems so hard to believe. You and I are big sinners. Why would he want to be our friend?

Jesus chooses friendship with us because he loves us! He does not love us because of anything we do—he loves us just because he wants to. He does not grow apart from us when seasons change, and he never parts ways with us for any reason at all.

He does not put your contacts in, but friendship with him is better than any friendship we have on earth. Being his friend means we can trust him, talk to him whenever we want, and believe he will never leave us.

Remember, you have the best friend ever in Jesus!