“A friend loves at all times. He is there to help when trouble comes.”—Proverbs 17:17 (New International reader’s Version)
“An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.”—Proverbs 12:25
I didn’t expect to be so particularly sad about it. I mean I had been anticipating this day for years. Seven years, six months, three weeks and four days, to be exact. I had NO CLUE before then what a mom REALLY did all day. Come to think of it, I still have NO CLUE what I did all day for those seven years, six months….
In any case, it was just the beginning of having more than fifteen minutes a day to myself on a regular basis without paying a babysitter, threatening my husband or hiding out in the bathroom. A reasonable reward for all the sacrificing at-home mommies do for their preschoolers, right?
I smiled all the way to school daydreaming of the uninterrupted quiet time I now had to write. Walking hand-in-hand with Andrea, our second-grader, and Michael, our kindergartener, on their first day of school seemed like a long-awaited dream come true. Yet I barely made it through the door back home alone before dropping to my knees in prayer and tears…a total surprise to me.
Three long hours passed, and I felt “out of it” until I picked up Michael after school. His characteristic exuberance and non-stop chatter about his first morning left a bittersweet taste in my mouth that only worsened after he determined our celebration lunch would be at his local 4-star restaurant, you know the one…with the golden arches and happy meals.
As we made our way out the door the phone rang and I did something I don’t usually do on my way out the door…I answered it. It was a friend calling to invite me out to celebrate my birthday with her and another friend the next day. She was apparently unaware that my birthday had passed exactly one month ago. No matter. It sounded good enough to me.
God knew I needed a friend and a kind word in this brief moment of trouble to lift my spirits, refresh my soul, and give me a healthy dose of everlasting laughter and joy from this extended-birthday celebration. What they may have found embarrassing I continue to have delightful memories from, especially since one of my birthday-extension gifts was a book that focuses on “a cheerful look at life”. Perfect gift. Perfect timing. Perfect friends.
No, my friends aren’t the perfect people, but they were acting in perfect unison with Christ, unbeknownst to them. Their gift was an overflowing fountain of encouragement from Christ Himself from which I’ve been able to give back to my children and husband the gift of packed lunches, notes from mom, clean and ironed laundry, genuine interest in their day, mercy from repeated offenses and full cupboards—all with a joyful heart.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:8, “Freely you have received, freely give.” I thanked my friends, but I don’t believe they knew the deeper why. Jesus does, and so do I. You also have many opportunities to both give and receive; you may be now in either a situation of deep pain and despair or of great peace and contentment, yet you cannot give from what you have not received. Someone once said, “Happiness sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.” The joy in a living relationship with Christ is in knowing you’ll never run out of those doors, nor will you tire of His astonishing sense of timing.
More importantly, the eternal gift of life God offers us through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23) is foundational to all other gifts He has reserved just for you, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows, James 1:17. And, as my friends pointed out with my birthday, it’s NEVER too late to receive your gifts!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”—2 Corinthians 1:3,4
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