The Road to a Friendship

 
It came without any plan … I was there and you too…

I saw you and started to recognize your presence: you are different yet interesting…

"Hi, how are you?"  You opened the conversation…

"Hi…" I replied.

 I knew that you had been aware of my presence… Then I introduced myself to you… and…

You gave your address and phone number…

In time, I moved to another level of understanding of who you are…

and in the silence of my heart I said "I like You"…

You are different yet special…

 But at the same time I was in an awareness of who I am… and in silence I promised, 
"I want to commit myself to the service of the Kingdom".

In time, I purified our relationship… and amazingly, you understood me…

You received me as I want to be…

You are now my friend and I am your friend…

I am here because you were with me…

and I will be there because you are in my memory…

 By elfridus ujan

 My friends, the central image of this narrative is about one's openness to be loved, to be accepted, and to be understood. Its message for us is that a true friendship only comes in a time, in a process, and in one's honesty. The narrative expresses Jesus's story in the Gospel of John when He offered a true friendship to Mary of Magdala's actions of taking a pint of pure and expensive perfume, pouring it on Jesus' feet and wiping the feet with her hair (Jn. 12:3). Jesus really accepted and understood the actions of Mary and Jesus knew her love. This shows us about Love, which is the central message of Jesus' teachings. Love provides energy in relationship: Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved Jesus.

Therefore, my friends, understanding, accepting, and loving each other are keys of friendship. These values are the antidote of our contemporary culture today, which is perceiving relationship in terms of money; relationship is respected by how much money you have. Money is everything for our culture today. People said that "if you have money, you will find easily friends". However, this narrative challenges our today's friendship. A true friendship comes when there is love, understanding, and acceptance.