The Golden Thread of Friendship

Did you know that there is no definition in the dictionary to describe friendship really?  I looked, and there was nothing that even came close to describing how I feel about my friends.  It's because you can't really put human words to a connection that goes deeper than the human language.  You can't really put words to things that God does within the soul~~~between souls.

Today is the anniversary of the day my dear friend Christy passed, after enduring 5 years of ovarian cancer.  I refuse to capitalize the words "ovarian and cancer" because they don't deserve the honor of capital letters.  True~~~~I HATE cancer.  But, again~~~there is something that goes way deeper than words when you are dealing with God, because God can take even the ugliest things and use them to bring beautiful things. 

Today is the reminder~~~the reminder of what is gone~~~the reminder of the empty spot that losing a close friend leaves. 

Today is a day that brings a tug on my heart because I miss her so.  I miss the walks, the deep conversations, the laughter, the mountain hikes, the "teacher"~~~~

But today is also a day to remember what was gained, what was learned, what was built within the soul, what was woven~~~

If we could see the heaven side of things, I'm sure we wouldn't even know how to describe the beautiful splendor that God is weaving in His creation.  Those connections between friends are threads of pure gold.  Gold is the strongest metal~~~the threads of gold that connect friends are of the strongest kind.  The kind that never sever.  And who am I that I would be so blessed to have so many of them?  Those threads come from the spool of Grace, and are given by God Himself.  That's what I believe~~~because there are no earthly words to describe what happens when God gives us such a treasure in life.

Christy was adamant about how we should describe her life with cancer.  She said, "never ever say that I am battling cancer, because this is not a battle, this is my life and I am living it despite the cancer and I am living well even with the cancer".  And she was right, she did. I learned more from her in that 5 years than I have in a lifetime about "living well".  And that's exactly what I mean about what happens deep within the soul in such a connection of hearts~~~the undefinable changes that occur within us when we are blessed enough to experience such beauty in the midst of such ugliness as cancer.  Cancer may have been the disease that ended her life, but it was that time with her during her cancer that she taught me and many others to really LIVE and savor each and every moment we are given. It was during that time that God must have been weaving the most intricate design.

Christy is not here today~~~but that golden thread still connects us firmly.  You see, the thing about that thread is it doesn't stop being woven.  That thread that connects me to Christy is the Spirit that lives on and through me, the thread of God's Spirit.  That thread connects me to others and causes me to extend what I learned from Christy to other places in my life. God often uses people to show us parts of His character~~~to teach us Who He is.  Through Christy, I saw how God wants us to deal with the ugly things that happen to us.  He wants us to see that those ugly things just happen TO us, not IN us.  Those ugly things do not define us, nor do they take away from who He created us to be.  And if we allow Him, He can use those ugly things to bring such utter beauty~~~beauty beyond imagination.  Heavenly beauty.

So, today I am going to dwell in that undefinable beauty that the golden thread has left in my life.  I am going to let Him WEAVE ON and extend the thread of His Spirit.  I'm going to savor the beauty of the weaving of those golden threads being woven in my life. I'm going to live well.

Christy would say, "Ah, now you got it!"