Today is my friend’s birthday. Vaunda and I met 47 years ago. She was in the church nursery with my youngest who was two years old at the time. We worked together on a church banquet and when her husband became the Lead Pastor at the church in Loomis, CA, we followed a couple weeks later.
Patty arrived on the scene a few years later. We shared a lot together…joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, triumph and tragedy, and eventually separation. Vaunda moved to Utah, I moved to Idaho, and Patty went to Montana. Last year Patty, the youngest, went home to her Savior and LORD. Vaunda and I miss her terribly. Most of our conversations begin with one of us saying, “I miss Patty.”
I awoke this morning thinking about how blessed I am to have had wonderful Christian friends for almost one-half century! We have worshipped and praised our Savior. We worked together and laughed together. The three of us would usually end up singing together. Vaunda the soprano, Patty the alto, and me a very shaky tenor. Such joy!
Now God has brought new friends into my life, and I am thankful for the joy they bring.
We need to appreciate our friends (whether we have had them for a long time or a short time), praying for them and thanking God for the blessing they are to us.
“The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.” [Proverbs 27:9 NLT]
