We have not been able to sing in our chapel services for some time, and I know we all miss that, but I do play music for us on my phone. And you never know what I'll come up with next. This weeks opening music was quite whimsical:
As most of you are aware, I was a nurse before I was a chaplain. Before I was a nurse, I was a tech. So, I have a decent amount knowledge about heath care facilities and how things go in them. I know the drill, you might say. But someone rocked my world many years ago about how things can be in them.
Like I said - I was new to nursing, but not new to health facilities. When I was assigned to my nursing preceptor, I marveled at her ability to call different departments and get exactly what she needed, quickly! That had not been my experience. I asked her how she did it.
“Birdie,” she said, “Wherever you go, make some friends. I have lots of friends here. And friends help each other.”
I really took that to heart and have always attempted to make at least one friend wherever I go. It is really a part of who I am now. I see friendship as a spiritual expression. Why shouldn’t I? There are tons of scripture from several faith traditions about friendship.
From Proverbs 27:9 we read, “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”
Isn’t that the truth? I would much rather hear about my rough edges from a friend than from anyone else!
In that vein, from verse 76 of the Dhammapada, the Buddha states, “Should you find a wise critic to point out your faults, follow him as you would a guide to hidden treasure.”
Friends are more than people that can point out our flaws. They lift us up when we feel sorrow. You can be yourself with a friend and share common interests with them. They help us learn social skills, and as my good friend and retired physician Dr. Ed Doge pointed out to me recently, they are major pillars of good health. Studies have shown that people who have good relationships and friendships have great health!
Friends help each other in adversity, I am sure it is happening everywhere in the COVID 19 pandemic. It has for me – you see in the beginning, ministers everywhere were scrambling to provide online options for their spiritual centers for spiritual enrichment, including one of my pastor friends. One evening, when he was feeling under the weather, I offered to fill in at his meditation on Zoom. Because friends help each other, right?
Then, the idea of a shared meditation, with rotating facilitators. So, none of us got too worn out, trying to offer everything under the sun online by ourselves. I told another friend what we were doing, and in a friendly gesture he offered to open his online event to other churches. He told a friend, I told some more friends, and now eight churches are involved. We all meet online and have become this tightly knit network of friends. Some of whom I have never met in person.
That is not a big surprise because this has happened apparently throughout the ages as evidenced by the scripture Proverbs 17:17:
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”
I bet you can think of new siblings you might have gained from what we have been through together.
So, what to do? Well my friends, in the words of my wise preceptor, “Wherever you go, make some friends.” I might add to that from 1 Thessalonians 5:11-
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
I thank you for reading, and be blessed this day.
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