A Garden of Friends

Proverbs 27:9 “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.”

Last year, with the help of my granddaughters, I planted a small flower garden on the perimeter of my prayer garden. Never having the proverbial green thumb of a proficient gardener, I wondered what would happen to the garden this year. I haven’t tended it with the exception of spreading some mulch around the dormant (I hoped) or dead (probably) plants from last year. For the last few days, I’ve been eyeing a few suspicious buds that seemed to have appeared just recently. Today, I was rewarded with a beautiful little pink rose that had burst forth to greet the morning sun! It was surrounded by a few more promising buds with hints of pink visible between the sepals.

As I oohed and ahhed over my roses, my thoughts meandered to my day at church yesterday, and my heart oohed and ahhed once more over the sweet ladies at my church that I count as friends. I love them! For whatever reason, this past Sunday I was overwhelmed by the friendships that I have made over the years there. Some of these ladies are older than me, some are younger, and I treasure them all. Sometimes they smile at me across the sanctuary (tiny buds of color); sometimes they meet me in the aisle and give me a warm hug (newly opened bloom), and sometimes they share part of their lives with me through an encouraging word or story (full flowered blossom). I truly have a lovely garden of wonderful friends!

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  – Hebrews 10:24-25

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How do you blossom in someone else’s friendship garden?