As favorite backyard neighbors, my mother and Mrs. Sanchez grew also into friendly rivals. The two competed every Monday to first hang their freshly washed laundry on their outdoor clotheslines. “She beat me again!” my mother would say. But the next week, Mama might be first—both enjoying their friendly weekly contest. Over ten years of sharing a backyard alley, the two also shared each other’s wisdom, stories, and hope.
The Bible speaks with great warmth about the virtue of such a friendship. “A friend loves at all times,” Solomon observed (Proverbs 17:17). He also noted, “The pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice” (27:9).
Our great Friend is surely Jesus. Urging loving friendship from His disciples, He taught them, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). The very next day, He would do just that on the cross. He also told them, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (v. 15). Then He said, “This my command: Love each other” (v. 17).
With such words, Jesus “is elevating His listeners,” as philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff said, from lowly humans to companions and confidants. In Christ, we learn to befriend others. What a Friend to teach us such love!
The pandemic was winning. That’s how it looked to John Persoff, an emergency room doctor at a large hospital committed to saving patients with Covid. How could he give his best? During off hours, he relaxed by taking enlarged photos of something small—individual snowflakes. It “sounds crazy,” says Dr. Persoff. But finding joy in something small but beautiful “is an opportunity to bond with my Creator and also to see the world in a way that few people take the time to notice.”
Looking wisely for such joy—to ease stress and build resilience—is a high value in the medical profession, the doctor said. But for everyone, he has this advice: “You’ve got to breathe. You have got to find a way to take a breath and enjoy life.”
David the psalmist expressed this thought in Psalm 16 as he declared the wisdom of finding joy in God. “
There are many unwise things people do as they try to decompress. Dr. Persoff found the wise path—one that pointed him to the Creator, who offers us the joy of His presence. “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (v. 11). In Him, we find joy evermore.
Applause rang out as a school’s top students received certificates of excellence for academic achievement. But the program wasn’t over. The next award celebrated students who weren’t the school’s “best”, but instead were most improved. They’d worked hard to raise a failing grade, correct disruptive behavior, or commit to better attendance. Their parents beamed and applauded, acknowledging their children’s turn to a higher path—seeing not their former shortcomings but their walk in a new way.
The heart-lifting scene offers a small picture of how our Heavenly Father sees us—not in our old life but now, in Christ, as His children. “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” wrote John (John 1:12).
What a loving perspective! So Paul reminded new believers that once “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). But in fact, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v. 10).
In this way, Peter wrote, we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” and we are now “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10). Through God’s eyes, our old path has no claim on us. Let’s see ourselves as God does—and walk anew.
He’s known as the military man whose commencement speech about making your bed every day got 100 million views online. But retired Navy Seal Admiral William McRaven shares another lesson just as compelling. During a military operation in the Middle East, McRaven has sadly acknowledged that several members of an innocent family were mistakenly killed. Believing the family was owed a sincere apology, McRaven dared to ask the heartbroken father for forgiveness.
“I’m a soldier,” McRaven told him, “but I also have children. I know how difficult this would be for me if this tragedy happened to my children.” The man’s response? He granted McRaven the generous gift of forgiveness. As the man’s surviving son told him, “We accept your apology, and we will have no more hatred in our hearts for you.”
The apostle Paul wrote of such generous grace: “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). He knew that life would test us in various ways, so he instructed believers in the church at Colossae: “Forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (v. 13).
What enables us to have such compassionate, forgiving hearts? God’s generous love. As Paul concluded, “Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (v. 14).
Dr. Tiffany Gholson had seen crime impact her small American city of East Saint Louis, Missouri in many ways. By 2023, however, the town recorded a 31 percent drop in homicides and a 37 percent drop in crime overall. What happened? A partnership. Working together, the city’s Public Safety Enforcement Group—including the state and city police, the city school district, and a faith organization—combined efforts to turn the tide for all citizens.
“We say it’s a marriage,” Dr. Gholson stated, with all members of the city partnership joining in to help citizens. The school district’s Wraparound Wellness Center, which she leads, involves school social workers, nurses, and staff to support kids impacted by crime or accidents. Other agencies share their strengths. Police commit to talk more with people on the street—and listen.
The psalmist David wrote, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). Harmony, David added, “is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon” (v. 3 nlt). David was referring to people who share a unifying faith in God. Rather than divided by doctrines or politics, we are one. The concept may feel elusive, yet it blesses all. It’s a beautiful goal for believers—especially in our cities desperately in need of the love of Jesus, but also our concern for one another.
Holly Cooke didn’t have one single friend when she moved to London for a job. Her weekends felt miserable. The city itself tops the list for feeling blue—with fifty-five percent of Londoners saying they’re lonely, according to a global survey, compared to just ten percent of residents in neighborly Lisbon, Portugal.
For connection, Holly defied her fears and formed a social media group called The London Lonely Girls Club—and some 35,000 have joined. Small-group meetups every few weeks offer park picnics, art lessons, jewelry workshops, dinners, and even outdoor exercise sessions with puppies.
The challenge of loneliness isn’t new, nor is the Healer of our feelings of isolation. Our eternal God, wrote David, “sets the lonely in families; he leads out the prisoners with singing” (Psalm 68:6). Asking God to point our way to Christlike friends is a holy privilege and, thus, a request we can freely take to Him. “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God, in his holy dwelling” (v. 5), added David. “Praise be to the Lord; to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens” (v. 19).
What a friend we have in Jesus! He grants us forever friends, starting with the glorious presence of Himself every moment. As Holly says, “Friend time is good for the soul.”
Alex Smalley wants everyone to wake up earlier—or perhaps pause more at day’s end. Why? To gaze at sunrises and sunsets. Those fleeting moments are the most beautiful, awe-inspiring times of the day, according to Smalley, the lead researcher of a British study on awe-inducing weather effects. Even more than blue skies or glittering nightscapes, a stunning sunrise or sunset can improve mood, increase positive emotions, and decrease stress. Smalley says, “When you see something vast and overwhelming or something that produces this feeling of awe, your own problems can feel diminished and so you don’t worry so much about them.”
His findings on wonder echo those of the prophet Jeremiah: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17).
King David also beheld God’s creation, declaring “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands” (Psalm 19:1). As for the sun, “It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.” Therefore, writes David, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul” (vv. 6-7). God’s glorious creation reflects the all-powerful Creator. Why not take time today to look to the skies and marvel in Him!
Our blue spruce was dropping pinecones and needles. The tree doctor took one look at it and explained the problem. “It’s just being a spruce,” he said. I’d hoped for a better explanation. Or a remedy. But the tree man shrugged, saying again, “It’s just being a spruce.” By nature, the tree sheds needles. It can’t change.
Thankfully, our spiritual lives aren’t limited by unchangeable actions or attitudes. Paul stressed this liberating truth to the new believers at Ephesus. The gentiles were “darkened in their understanding,” he said, their minds closed to God. They possessed hardened hearts containing “every kind of impurity,” and sought only after pleasures and greed (Ephesians 4:18-19).
But “since you have heard about Jesus” and His truth, Paul wrote, “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life” (vv. 21-22
Paul then listed new ways to live. Stop lying. Resist anger. Stop cursing. Quit stealing. “Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need” (v. 28
Ole Kassow of Copenhagen loved bicycling. One morning, when he saw an elderly man sitting alone with his walker in a park, Ole felt inspired by a simple idea: why not offer elderly people the joy and freedom of a bike ride. So, one sunny day he stopped at a nursing home with a rented trishaw (a three-wheeled bike) and offered a ride to anyone there. He was delighted when a staff member and an elderly resident became the first riders of Cycling Without Age.
Now, more than twenty years later, Ole’s dream to help those who missed cycling has blessed some 575,000 elderly people with 2.5 million rides. Where? To see a friend, enjoy an ice cream cone, and “feel the wind in their hair.” Participants say they sleep better, eat better, and feel less lonely.
Such a gift brings to life God’s beautiful words to His people in Isaiah 58:10–11. “Help those in trouble,” He told them. “Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon” (
God told His people, “Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities” (v. 12). What might He do through us? As He helps us, may we always be ready to help others.
