The way it works.

Shannon — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:27:00 GMT

I had Cade with me at the greenhouse today, as I shopped for plants. It was really crowded, so at one point I parked my cart (with Cade in it) in the aisle and went down a row to check out the wave petunias.

To make sure I could still hear him, Cade raised his voice a notch. He was saying, "So, Mommy. You know at the baseball game last night? There was this boy named Tyler and he said to me, 'Well, since I'm friends with Braden and you're friends with Braden, then you and me are friends, right?' I told him, 'No, it doesn't work that way.'"

At this, an older man in the aisle, who was apparently waiting for his wife to choose some flowers, said to another older man (who was probably doing the same thing), "Wow. This little guy's got it all figured out!"

The other man responded, "I wish I had known that at his age!"

While I wouldn't have admitted it quite as readily as these guys, Cade is right. You don't collect friends by extension. For two people to be friends, they have to have a mutual relationship.

Same goes for Jesus. You can't be Jesus' friend by extension. Many will say, "But Lord, I hung around with Christians and did Christian stuff." But Jesus will say, "It doesn't work that way. Away from me--I never knew you."

The good news? Jesus is a bit more welcoming than Cade. He loves for friends to bring friends to meet him-in fact that's why he has his friends dispersed throughout the globe. That is the way it works.

My Christmas-Card-Only Friend

Shannon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:58:00 GMT

We have a friend whose trajectory in life seems to always be on a steady incline which never dips. Some years ago, he criticized my husband and me because our plotline was, at that point, tanking.

This was less than encouraging. It didn't make us feel good. We didn't like it. So, with no further ado, we slid him over to the ‘Christmas Card Only' friendship category-meaning, he gets no more and no less than one contact a year from us. And it's about that time.

But I'm rethinking this. We live in a consumer oriented world. Relationships are like deodorant. If performance dips, we cross that brand off our list and shop for an upgrade. Reconciliation isn't something we work very hard at, and at the rate of one Christmas card per year, it won't happen on its own.

Dialing this guy's number wouldn't play prelude to a cozy, fireside, Christmas moment for me. The idea makes my stomach churn. But such a call would represent the first Christmas well. Lying in scratchy hay amid bleating animals wasn't cozy either. But my Jesus lavishly spent his comfort on reconciliation. Now, he motions for me to come and taste the joy of reconciliation... at Christmas.

Tiny Paragraphs : Jesus, Relationship

The way it works.

My Christmas-Card-Only Friend