Altar
Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter
Albritton
March
10, 2013
Good friends are at the top
of my list of blessings
Supremely
important to me are my faith, family and friends. Material things are necessary
and helpful but they are nowhere near the top of my blessings list.
Faith
is the foundation for a life of meaning and joy. Beliefs determine how we live
out our days. When the fierce winds of pain and trouble drive me to my knees my
fears are subdued by the conviction that a loving God is in control. Faith in
the love of God steadies the soul in the turbulent struggles of life.
The
love of my family is precious to me. That is what makes a home so important. A
house is not a home. Family is what makes a house a home. When life dealt me
its cruelest blows it was the love of family that helped me pick up the pieces
and get back in the race. Though life is difficult it would be impossible
without the forgiveness, encouragement and loving support of family.
Good
friends are as essential as breathing. To be friendless would be worse than
being homeless. Without good friends life shrivels and dies. With good friends
life is worth living.
A
man may say, “My dog is my best friend.” A man who has a dog that loves him is indeed
fortunate. But as valuable as a dog may be, a dog’s “love” pales in
significance to the love of a human being who has chosen to be a good friend.
My
best friend is my wife. That was not always the case but we worked at it until
it became a reality. She tells me the truth but she clothes it in kindness.
That makes it almost irresistible. When she speaks truth I recognize that she
is doing it for my good. I would be a fool not to listen – and to mend my ways
accordingly.
Good
friends are described in many different ways. Some descriptions remind me of my
wife, like this one: “When it hurts to look back, and you’re scared to look
ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there.” I can say
that about Dean; she has been beside me in the worst and the best of times –
her love and her faith in me never wavering.
My
wife touches my heart in new ways every day. And she is pure joy to live with
because every day I discover something new about her to love and admire. To be
honest I stand in awe of the remarkable person she has become. And I am
constantly astounded by the difference she makes in my life. Yes, she is my
dearest friend and I can say to her, “If you live to be a hundred, I want to
live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”
Another
popular description of good friends is this: “Many people will walk in and out
of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” How
true that is! I am a blessed man because I have several true friends who have
left their footprints in my heart.
I grew up with one such friend. We have
been friends since high school days. We meet for coffee often to “catch up” with
each other. Though we may not meet for a month or two when we do it is as
though we are continuing the conversation we had when we last met. He makes me
feel remarkably accepted and I sense he feels the same way.
This friend’s sense of humor always
blesses me. He cannot speak long without laughing. There is joy inside him that
keeps bubbling up in any conversation. He has a gift for injecting fun instead
of gloom into an ordinary chat. About our friendship he would probably say, “A
true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg even though he knows you
are slightly cracked.” With that I will not argue.
Friendship need not be forsaken because
one moves to another state. One of my friends for 30 years lives in a distant
state. But periodically he will arrange for us to meet while he is in the south
for business. Recently he stayed over for an extra day so we could have lunch.
With no agenda we talked for three hours. It was worth the two-hour drive to spend time
remembering, reflecting and renewing our friendship.
More than 50 years ago I became friends
with a fellow pastor who is my age. We have never lived in the same town but we
have stoked the fires of friendship by meeting together many times. For many
years we met every few years. Then we began to meet once a year. Finally last
year we decided that at our age we had better start meeting every three or four
months. So we do.
We usually meet halfway between Atlanta
and Montgomery, have lunch together and again without an agenda share our
hearts for about three hours. We laugh about our failures, rejoice about our
successes, and celebrate the funny lessons we are learning about growing old.
Telephones may be a nuisance sometime but
they are also a source of blessing. I love it when the phone rings and I hear a
good friend saying, “I just needed to hear the sound of your voice today.” Such
moments call for a loud “Glory!”
It may be trite but I like the saying, “A
true friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway.” That is
what makes good friends so precious to me – they know the truth about me but
still love me. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my balcony
cheering me on – in a hundred different ways!
There is an old gospel song that says,
“What a friend we have in Jesus.” I am tempted to wade into that idea but then
I would start preaching and you might go to sleep. So I will simply conclude
with this thought: Thank God for faith, family and friends. They are on the top
of my blessings list! + + +