Best friends in the end
A certain song has been running through my mind all week: “Me and You” by singer/songwriter Katie Tarpey. It’s a beautiful piece. She sings of her dreams for the future: bulding a home together with the one she loves. As she envisions children yet to be, she sings of a tire swing and a cardboard-box marching band. Then my favorite line: “We’ll raise them to be best friends in the end.” This is my hope.
As I watch them, I think about the family of God. All believers are children of God; that makes us siblings. Do we get along like that? Oh, I know we have the fights and we throw the punches. We argue over doctrinal differences and appropriate behaviors, but in the end, are we friends? Do we truly love each other?
Isabel and Zach love each other. They really love each other! They have their disagreements, but they always come back to being friends. This is how we should be. We should defend each other the way Zach rushes to protect his big sister if ever he thinks she’s under attack. We should run to help each other the way Isabel hurries to care for Zach if he falls or is hurt. We need to really and truly love each other as brothers and sisters, not just distant family members we have to tolerate.
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.” — 1 John 4:1-2 (NIV)
We cannot love God without loving His children. We cannot love each other without loving God. It’s all entwined. Just something to think about.
Posted on June 29, 2007, in child, Father, fellowship, relationships. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
Of course your forte as a blogger is drawing out the spiritual lessons paralleled in every day life, and you do this deftly.
Since you are talking about siblings, and how they get along, I will say that my children never, ever fought when they were small. They were truly angelic with one another, it was weird. It had to do with their temperaments, and maybe that they were four years apart; my oldest felt so protective toward his baby sister. But she grew up. She doesn’t like being overtly protected now. Doesn’t matter that all the water under the bridge was gold, that was then, this is now.
I guess the parallel I’d like to share is one of going with the flow. And, not judging things by how they seem–after all, your two may fight normally now and end up sharing more than mine do now that they are older.
So as the body of Christ, do we go with the flow as God works His mysterious plans in each of our lives, even if it takes us in different directions? And that’s what you pointed out so deftly; to love God, this will bring us back to loving one another.