Crack Sealant

Today I woke with the anticipation of beginning a new study.  I always start with an "Open Windows" daily devotion.  The title of today's is "Friendship Isn't Futile."  I chuckled, because I knew in my heart that God was encouraging me that I was doing the right study at the right moment in time.  The new study is entitled Between Friends...A Woman's Look At Mentoring God's Way.  Just how awesome is that?!

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.  Ecclesiastes 4:9

Friend - one attached to another by affection or esteem

There are several modern day definitions for friend, but I liked this one best. 

The Hebrew word for friend is Çôwdh - 'secret intimate friendship'

The Greek is Philos love, or brotherly/friendship love and describes the love between two people who have common interests and experiences, or a fondness for. Philos steadily grows, like a building being constructed stone by stone.  For this reason, when close friends are separated for a while and reunited, they will often say “it is like we picked up exactly where we left off.”

We all need friends.  Personally, I enjoy being alone quite often, as I get a lot accomplished during those times.  However, I can also become defeated and overwhelmed if I don't take out some time for friendship.

I love the quote from Ruth: "Where you go, I will go.  Where you lodge, I will lodge.  Your people will be my people and your God, my God."  However, some would feel Ruth was more of a parasite than a friend at this point. She could have easily returned to Moab and remarried and allowed Naomi the freedom to do as she pleased.  Yet her love for Naomi was so great, she could not leave her in her loneliness.  She knew that feeling as she was experiencing it for herself in the loss of her husband.  Together they could survive.  Alone, they just might not make it and as I think about Naomi's words to her welcoming friends when she returned home to Bethlehem, I doubt she would have made it without Ruth.

"Call me 'Mara" - bitter - for the Lord has dealt very bitterly toward me...."  Ruth 1:20

When a rock flies up and hits a windshield, a small hole forms.  If it is repaired immediately, it will go no further.  If it is left alone, the tiny cracks that are virtually invisible to the naked eye will start to spread and destroy the windshield.  It will have to be replaced.  Ruth knew she could not fill the hole of no husband or sons, but she could be a friend and fill in the small cracks that threatened to destroy Naomi's life.  That's what true friend's do. 

So, Lord, make me into a crack sealer for those who feel they are ready to split open.  Grant wisdom and insight into their needs.

And Lord, when I feel ready to shatter, provide a sealant for me.