Hello Baysiders! Hope is well in your soul this lovely spring day! Yes, its spring already, the time when flowers bloom, Daylight Savings occurs, the color green covers the hills, and when new life sprouts out. Now that we have passed the Easter hangover, let’s focus on growing in the Lord.
As we move along in 2021, let’s have a spring mentality to our relationships. Spring is a time for new life, old ways gone, dead branches trimmed, making room for healthy growth and there is no better area for spring power than friendship. Friendships are so crucial for the blossoming of our lives. The people we confide in, trust with our deepest secrets, laugh and cry with, rely on when times are rough are the people who shape and mold us to the people we are going to be. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” You become who you surround yourself with. It’s human nature. Who we admire and trust with our hearts are those we will be like. If you associate with people who gossip, you will eventually gossip. If you spend a lot of time with cynical and judgemental people, you will eventually be judging others and think the worse of people and their situation. On the other hand, if you are close to graceful and humble friends, you will develop grace and humility in your life. As a kid my mother would call all of us brothers together and organize a spring cleaning day for the house. No one liked it because it implied hours of chores and cleaning but my mother knew it was the time of year to get rid of the dust and unneeded clutter, clear the home of any misplaced house items and provide a clean environment to thrive in.
My pastor encouragement today for us is do a friendship inventory, examine who are the people that blossom your life to the direction you want to grow and who are the ones dwarfing and suffocating your growth as a child of God. Maybe some spring cleaning with your friendships is the solution to your parched circumstance or disheartening progress in life? Jesus shows us a few good friends are better than many friends who are no good. Jesus’ circle was small. He he was friends with everyone but only had friendships with a select few who were part of the same mission of God. Jesus had to draw away from people, abstain from toxic individuals and even said no to certain friendships that were fun for the moment but for the health of his relationship with God, he avoided. Jesus hung out with twelve men, and really was close to only three of them as his closet friends, Peter, James and John (some would say John being his BFF). Jesus was deliberate and selective who he called friends (John 15:15) and I think we should do the same and take a lesson off the old Jesus page. Be conscious who you associate with, call friends, or allow to have influence on you because they can either grow you or stunt you. It’s ok to only have three friends. It’s more than fine to only have one great solid friend. Jesus did. Do some spring cleaning with your friend circle and find out who you need to water or those who are the dead branches you need to break off. The power of spring cleaning with friendships is it provides a soft fertile soil that cultivates an abundance of fruit for your life. You will be enriched in life and it wont be from any amount of dollar bills.
Grace and peace ?:^)
Pastor Aaron