One of the Bible Studies in Salzburg was about friendship. We were each given a little wooden ‘handbag friend’ – the idea being that you keep it in your bag and tell it your troubles when life is tough. “You can personalise it, draw on a face, stick on some hair, give him/her a name” we were told. Personally, I didn’t really go for this idea. If I have problems, I tend to tell Jesus, my best friend, about them [the Baptist in me rebels at the idea of little wooden images!!] But here is my little friend…
…she is standing on the shelf directly above my PC, next to my Lubbesthorpe prayer stone. I have put her* there to symbolise all of you – my blogfriends. She acts as a reminder to me to pray for you, and your special needs. She does not have a name, because she is representative of a vast number of people – but already I have discovered that when I look up and see her there, I find myself thinking of someone in the blogosphere who needs a prayer. Prayer is a very practical way of showing our love for someone – and anything that makes me slow down in my busy day and come to God with concerns for my friends is a habit to be encouraged
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another
*sorry Gaz, and other blokes reading this, you men do get prayed for as well, I just felt she looks female! I appreciated Kezzie’s post during Lent when she offered to pray for people – she ended up both praying for my sick Aunt and visiting her because she was close by. Please email me if you’d like prayer for anything important to you.
I think you should call your new friend, "Friend" to symbolise ALL your friends not just those in blogland.
ReplyDeleteCarolx
Our direct line to Jesus doesn't need a middleman!
ReplyDeleteI rather like the idea of a prayer reminder...mine is usually the kitchen sink.
Jane x
I like your use of it- yes, I feel a bit uncomfortable with the idea of telling my troubles to a piece of wood instead of Jesus but it being a reminder to pray, yes, that's a good idea!x
ReplyDelete