I have been going to the same credit union for over twenty years and I am still treated like a stranger each time I go in. Perhaps it is because there is never the same teller. They must pay horrible wages because their turnover is incredible. I would change to a bank if I thought it would be any different. We live in a rapid pace world where relationships, if there is one, are fleeting. It is rarely worth one’s time to become friends with someone because next month they will be moving away. Even our children eventually grow up and move away.
Johnny Cash sang a song titled Hurt. Some of the lyrics are “My sweetest friend, everyone I know goes away in the end.” My dad spent his last years alone with his old boxer dog. How precious are the days when we are with loved ones. We must cherish them and make sure we don’t argue (no one can fight like a family) when we are with them. Sure I know that sometimes Aunt Mary can be a crank or Cousin Sal can be a jerk, but just because they are that way doesn’t mean we have to be as they are.
Heaven isn’t about streets of gold. (Gold is cold.) It is all about family. It is being with grandma and grandpa and having them in their prime. Heaven is about not being a stranger anymore. In John Jesus calls us His friends. It is one of the warmest things He could have ever said to us. It is about changing the lyrics to Hurt. “My sweetest friend, everyone I know stays forever.” I like that. A lot.
Written by Roger Bothwell on May 2, 2014
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org