God Always Has A Plan B
Page 67

I’m sure we all have that one person in our lives that we trust above everyone; that one person who we feel so at ease with that our deepest secrets simply spill out with the greatest of ease.  In order to facilitate that abiding trust, we must reciprocate and be that friend who can set aside time to listen as well.  All relationships our a two way street, but if you have one single best friend, you must be there for them when they need you.  That kind of friendship takes years to cultivate.

You can’t afford to take time away from the friendship.  Life IS noisy and the person who was your best friend last month, will turn away and focus on the noise next month if you don’t spend the time it takes to keep him or her in your line of sight.  I’ve been blessed in my life with three or four really close friends over the course of my life.  They have entered and exited and entered again just when I needed them.

I’m sure you’ve heard it said that God gives us what we need when we need it.  From the time I could crawl until a bit after I graduated from high school, I was inseparable from Joe.  Even though we lived across the state from each other we maintained our friendship.  We were each the others best friend.  We listened to each other.  We shared so much.  We were family.  I thank God for that friendship and I did so each night during my childhood.  God put us together because HE knew we were good for each other.  HE understood that we needed each other.  Joe was my sounding board.  He knew all of my childhood secrets.  He heard the sadness in my tone when I was down.  He caught the joy when I was happy.  He listened.

We cultivated our friendship.  It could have been extremely difficult to maintain, seeing as we lived so far from each other.  Our friendship was the most important thing in our young lives and because it was so important, we made sure to take the time to maintain it.  There came a time in both of our lives where other priorities came into focus and our friendship moved in a different direction.  We no longer needed the strong bond that developed during our childhood.  We grew during our time as friends and we grew beyond our friendship.  God closed that door, because HE realized we learned everything we could.

But when God closes a door, look around because HE will ALWAYS open a window.  In 1989 God opened my window and someone else crawled through.  We shared so many traits, more then Joe and I did and once more this new person became my new sounding board.  Once more the adage God gives us what we need when we need it came into extreme focus for me.  1989 1990 and 1991 were not good years for me.  My faith was flagging.
I was in a situation where my boat was taking on water faster then I could bail.  My new friend helped me more then Joe ever did.  God brought him to me at just the right time.  Unlike my friendship with Joe, this friend and I are still very close.

We listened.
We heard the sadness.
We caught the joy.
We didn’t let the noise distract our friendship.

A few years ago while still maintaining that friendship, God decided it was time for someone else to enter.  What was different with this new friendship was that I became the support, where in the previous two friendships I was the person looking for support.  I think God, in HIS infinitely humorous state, decided that it was time for me to step up.  Nothing gives me greater satisfaction then being able to repay some of my Karmic debt by being the best friend I can be.

I enjoy being the person able to help now, able to listen now, able to offer my friendship and expect nothing in return.  I think the friendships I cultivated while growing up has made me a better person, a better friend then had I not gone through what I did.

Listening, looking, watching, helping.  These are all extremely important if you want to maintain a friendship and I think we have to see both sides in order to become the friend we want.  God puts people in our lives to teach us both sides.  It’s up to us to not only learn the lesson, but to put it into practice.

Are you learning?
Are you practicing what God teaches you?

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you.
—
Chris