Welcome to our devotional day number seven.
True friends are knit to our souls.
Author is unknown of this quote.
True friends are the ones who never leave your heart,
Even if they leave your life for a while.
Even after years apart,
You pick up with them right where you left off.
And even if they die,
They're never dead in your heart.
Meditation.
It is so difficult to lose friends or loved ones when they move to different cities,
States,
Or even countries.
There is still a special bond,
But the daily connection or interaction is no longer possible.
Some relationships are forgotten and fade away when physical distance becomes a factor.
But other relationships move to another level.
Similarly,
When a beloved person dies,
We often respond by either forgetting about the person or taking the relationship to another level.
This new level can be understood as forming a spiritual bond.
Friends who depart now become an internal reality as much as they initially were an external reality.
When relationships transcend in time and space onto this new spiritual level,
It becomes a powerful new experience of loving and connecting.
These are the friends who we see only every few years,
But it feels like we were together just yesterday.
This is because each of us has kept a space open in our hearts for the other.
Similarly,
When a friend or loved one dies,
We can keep a space open in our hearts for that person.
His or her voice,
Smile,
And life story will become part of our inner world.
The other person lives on in some mysterious way in our hearts and in our life themes.
We will never be the same whether the other person lives far away or dies.
Love is the powerful experience of being knit to another person's soul.
The Bible verse that I want to read is 1 Samuel 18,
Verse 1.
It says,
The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David,
And Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
I want to say a prayer.
God of love and friendship,
One of the greatest mysteries of humanity is our capacity to love,
And this love is a reflection of who you are.
We are knitted to your soul,
And you love us as your own soul.
All other relationships that are long-lasting and enduring,
Despite distance,
Time,
And space,
Participate in this mystery of spiritual and transcendent connection.
Help us to attend to those special relationships and not dismiss or forget them.
Let us not miss the spiritual presence of those we have loved but who have departed from us.
They will always be part of our souls.
Amen.
