Article November 21, 1988 Issue

Real friends

Did you ever long for a friend to talk to about things close to your heart?

Lillian E. Edds

Most of us love to be with family and friends, hearing— no matter how often—their stories and exchanging ideas with them. But are we sometimes inclined to feel lonely— even abandoned—when they aren't around? There's no need to, when we include in our list of friends some we may never see or talk with. We get to know them through the books we read. Christ Jesus, his disciples, fellow Christians, and Mary Baker Eddy, for instance, are right at the top of my list of "Friends found in my reading." And, of course, there are Moses, Elisha, Peter, Paul, and so many others to be found in the Bible that there could never be a shortage of friends to provide us with engrossing ideas, helpful and healing thoughts, and practical inspiration to meet any situation that might arise in our lives.

Reading the Bible for enjoyment and inspiration can be a valuable activity. And naturally we count as friends those who give us happiness and satisfaction. But our Bible friends do more than this. They tell us about the God they have depended on to save and heal them. We can rely on what they tell us— what we read. Their experiences provide us with lessons that we can use with the utmost confidence.

Moses, for instance, with his patience, obedience, and devotion, shows us something of the importance of these qualities in making the legacy he left us—the Ten Commandments—part of our lives.

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