It is year-end. The old year is casting the last long shadows on the footsteps of my life and here I am, a shadow of a man. Don’t shine a light on me though because then you would see I cast a mean shadow. What I am referring to is the person behind the image, the living human being that goes through life unseen.
My wife has many friends. I have none… Not even one. The only one I had didn’t know it until the day our ways parted. Now he is with Jesus.
All I have is no friends. Come to think of it, what do you do with friends? That is most probably the reason why I don’t have any. Never learnt how to use them.
When I was young, I needed friends but grew up alone. Gradually I learnt how to cope without them. Funny enough, I was always happy.
Life was a feast. That could be the reason why I didn’t have friends – I was too happy to be concerned about why I didn’t fit into the world of friends. My wife was my girlfriend and Jesus was my only friend but alas and at the same time fortunately, He is God.
With my happiness and my love for Jesus and my wife, I became a prosperous man. There was one problem – my joyous prosperity made me arrogant and self-centred. You see, My only friend was me.
All through my life, Jesus never let go of my hand. I on the other hand, childish little man with an ego big enough to do whatever I wanted to, naively believed that God would always provide for me.
Now, at the same time when I discovered my empty, lonely self, I also found that God has certain rules for men like me.
A man without a friend is like a voice shouting in the desert. Without a friend, nobody listens.
I discovered a person should be good to his friends because they might be needing him and vice versa. Strangers can also be friends.
What I’ve discovered most of all is that Jesus also needs friends! Be His friend!