How Things Should Be

Our granddaughter, Hailey, was recently in a swimming competition. A pretty little girl about her age with a towel wrapped around her walked by, stopped and talked with her briefly while she sat in my lap. After the girl left I asked my granddaughter where she knew this girl from. She didn’t reply so I asked, “Was she your friend?” Finally after a long pause she answered saying, “Yes, she just became my friend right now.” 

The swimming meet continued as the sun blared down and my granddaughter won one of her heats. She again was sitting in my lap as the same pretty little girl walked by, but was dressed in a red dress, rather than being wrapped in a towel. Hailey didn’t recognize her, so I said, “There goes your new friend.” Again Hailey looked around, but said nothing. “It looks like she is leaving with her family,” I said. At that, Hailey jumped up and caught up with her new friend. They looked at each other and hugged as though they had been parted for years. They started talking back and forth, Hailey straightened her top and each one was smiling and talking like old friends united. I couldn’t hear what they were saying as Hailey brushed the girls hair from her eyes, but it was a lively conversation with smiles and warmth, each one adoring the other. The parents and the little girl left in a few minutes, and Hailey returned to us.

I looked at my wife who had heard my comments and had watched the entire encounter with me. She remarked at the sincerity and delight that was evident between these two new friends who decided they liked one another and nothing else was necessary. They didn’t need to have mutual understanding, similar preferences, or shared perspective or opinions, only a reason to be in that place on a sunny day with family.

I was at a loss with words to describe what we had observed, though my wife seemed to understand exactly what we were witnessing. In the Psalms, there is a word picture that describes an event too meaningful for words: 

“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” (Psalms 133:1-3)

This was the innocence of unity in friendly love which we witnessed between two six year old girls – there the Lord bestows His blessing.