I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father. (John 15:15)
During the Christmas break of my junior year of high school, my family moved to a new town. I walked across the school quad at lunchtime like a salmon making a last exhausted run at the waterfall. I had already passed several times through the clique gauntlet. If I didn’t find a group to sit with on this pass, I’d be swept down the friendless teen river.
I believed in Jesus, but I didn’t know how to be friends with someone I couldn’t see. Then we found ourselves on the same team in life’s tug-of-war. When you have a friend from a different social class you eventually see past the differences. After several years, I forgot Jesus was invisible to me.
How cool is it that the Creator of the universe is my inseparable pal? I finally have a soulmate who understands my dysfunction and still loves me. He doesn’t blindly accept whatever I say or do. He challenges me, rigorously, and I accept his correction because he always has my best in mind.
I could be intimidated in Jesus’s presence, what with him being Jehovah God and all. But I know he too was tempted and he questioned our Father’s will. He understands weakness and so coming to him is as comfortable as pulling on a favorite sweatshirt.
No mortal can complete me. I have to stop expecting the impossible from humans who are as flawed as I am. Jesus is the only soulmate who truly gets me, is always ready to hang out, and never pushes too much or too little. Yes, he’s still invisible, but so much more present than anyone.
I only wish I had known in high school what I know today.
Prayer: Jesus, my best friend, you make me whole.