MY BROTHER'S KEEPER

I'm not sure why I keep having to learn this lesson over in my life but I do. I just got off the phone with a dear friend of mine, the kind of friend you can go a long time in between seeing and catch up right where you left off. The lesson I keep having to learn, though, is that it's not good to do that. You need to call and go see the people you love now, not put it off. You need to tell them you love them now, not wait until tomorrow or wait until it's convenient for you because there just may not be a tomorrow. When you think about someone, it's not enough just to say a prayer for them. You need to check on them and see what you can do for them. (I am, of course, lecturing me--not you.) Though you are welcome to pick up any tidbits you want from my rant.

I have been thinking of this friend off and on for some time now but our schedules don't seem to mesh very well. I left her a message a month or so ago to call me but had not heard back from her yet. I thought of her today, decided to call and actually caught her. It had been more than a year since we talked and so much had gone on in her life--and not much that was pleasant. She had lost close loved ones, been diagnosed with cancer herself(I refuse to dignify cancer with a capital "c"), been through life-altering surgery and to add insult to injury just as she was about to return to work came down with another painful illness. I feel saddened and frankly, ashamed not to have been there for her through any of this.

Through all of this, I could hear in my friend an amazing attitude about what she has been through and what she has yet to go through--as there is more surgery on the horizon for her due to the cancer. She is someone I have always looked up to and admired.

I am determined once again to get this right, to show the Lord the gratitude I have for the good friends He has blessed me with by being good to them, by being "My Brother's Keeper" and keeping watch over those he has seen fit to bless me with in my life. The next time a concern for someone comes into my mind, I am going to reach for the phone . . .