Friends

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

     My Father was a friendly fellow and if you were around him for any length of time, you might be embarrassed at times by his actions.  He spoke to everyone who crossed his path even to a stranger.  He would greet them as they passed by on the street.  He once told me that everyone would like to be greeted as you pass by and you could see the countenance change of the stranger and many times a smile and a greeting were returned.  Dad knew that people were often lonely and a kind word, even in a greeting might well make their day a little brighter.   From others point of view, they might assume that he was a tad obnoxious like his joking at the cash register or asking for a lapidary hammer in the local Sears and Roebuck store.  The salesman would look puzzled and then Dad would say, “You know, a rock hammer.”  Well, as fate would have it, I have become like my Father.  I like to talk to people and ask them questions and if I can say their name ten times, I might remember it the next day if I write some characteristic down that they have.

     The above passage exhorts us about the value of friendship and how one person can help another.  It has been said, “No man is an island.”  We live in the midst of over seven billion people.  That’s a lot of people and many of them are lonely.  While in Spain during our first couple of months, we lived in the midst of 200,000 people in the city of Alcorcon, and yet we were lonely because we couldn’t speak the language.  We landed with two words under our belt, “tacos” and “hola.”  People soon got tired of trying to talk to us because we didn’t understand anything for a long time.  Pablo became a friend.  He was a young man that knew more English than we did Spanish and so persisted in  helping us almost  everyday.  He did sharpen our countenance and many of our struggles with the language soon became humorous stories.  Many people do try to isolate themselves from others and can become lonely even in the midst of thousands of people.  In the end, would like to have had a reputation for being friendly to those that I meet whether it is fellow veterans at the hospital, or here at the senior living facility with both staff and residents or even on the street or complete strangers.  I would like to sharpen another’s countenance.  Praise God for His working in our lives today.  Share it with someone by saying, “Hello.”