A couple weeks ago, my husband and I went to Bishop to enjoy their small town 4th of July festivities. They had elephant ears, corn dogs, (mmm), fun stuff for kids to do, and fireworks for sale.  As I sat to wait for some friends, I watched a young girl on the rock climbing wall.  She struggled to get her hands and feet to stay on the footholds, but kept sliding down.  Finally someone who was watching out for her started yelling to her, “there are hand grips on the sides!  Hold on to the grips!”

And the girl still couldn’t see them and kept sliding off.  The person continued yelling, “lean back and look!  They’re right there!”  So the girl leaned her body backward and scanned the wall with her eyes, and sure enough, the grips were right there.  She grabbed hold, and up she went.

It got me thinking, how we are sometimes too close to our own problems, and we can feel ourselves climbing in vain, wondering what the problem is, confounded by the fact that we keep falling down.  We need a friend who will step back, look at our situation and holler out to us, to tell us a better way.  That’s what a good friend will do, even if we don’t want to hear it.

I have been so blessed with many wonderful friends.  I used to use the description, “I go to church with that woman”, or “that chick is in my Bible Study”, but now these are the same people I now consider very dear friends who I can stretch and grow with every week.  Last week they blessed me so much with kind words of encouragement on my birthday.  More love than I could have imagined actually.

I hope you have firends in your life who will look out for you and yell at you when you need to do something different in your life, and friends who will grow with you, and friends who will love you and celebrate who you are.   Don’t forget to express love to the friends in your life this week.  They are a gift to you from God.