[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Wednesday, June 29, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Hello and good day once again to most of you on this Wednesday.  I hope 
that your day is going well, by God's matchless grace and His 
providential care.

Today's Daily thought message is so short that perhaps a few of you 
would like to try to memorize it, if possible.  It's from the booklet 
"Reflective Vignettes," a compilation of uplifting stories, poems and 
maxim collections.  The one I've chosen for you today (explanation 
follows) is entitled "Forever Friends," rendered as follows:

You don't always know when you say goodbye to someone special, that it 
will be the last time you will be with them.  And for whatever reason, 
they are no longer in your life.  If you had known that it would be 
your last chance to see them, you would have hugged them a little 
longer, a little tighter.

You would have told them you loved them, and kissed them on the cheek.  
Maybe you would have told them a secret about something, or shared a 
special memory.

If you had known it was your last chance, you would have reminded them 
of how much they mean to you, and what an important part of your life 
they are.  You would have told them all the things that you especially 
like about them.  Or maybe you just would have watched them leave 
without turning away so fast.

I want you to know, just in case one day I don't get the chance to tell 
you, that I love you.  I want you to know that you have made my days 
brighter and happier.  You always find a way to make me smile even on 
my darkest days.

And I don't know what I would have done without you all this time.  You 
are so special to me in so many ways.  I just want you to know that you 
are one of the closest people to my heart, and I love you now and 
always.  And may we be forever friends.

Just for anyone's interest, the foregoing was translated into Esperanto 
and sent on an Esperanto language email list.  So especially I have the 
following to thank from Eastern Europe, even though none of you know 
these people because they don't know English:  Vasili Amadescu from 
Romania, Frantishek Meszaros from Slovakia, Olena Poshivana from the 
Ukraine and Laszo Orosz from Hungary, precious souls that God has 
redeemed and who have been my friends for over 35 years.

Of course, (and this can be very difficult at times), one must separate 
friends from acquaintances.  In the book of Ecclesiasticus is a 
prescient statement:  "Let your acquaintances be many, but your friends 
one in a thousand." That's why God laid it on my heart to help someone 
with limited financial resources with her computer problem.  Not much, 
you would say, but at least she can now, sooner or later, enjoy what 
she wishes to.  I just wish that someday I can find a way to go to her 
community of residence to meet her personally, and I won't say no, but 
believe God that He will find a way.  Hence the foregoing article.

And that will do for today.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing another 
daily thought message and article will be posted, may the God of 
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and 
collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian 
friend, brother and as we say in Esperanto, "samideano," Paul