Better Than Friends

Right after my mother’s open-heart surgery, my father took all the major care; administering the medicine, helping her when she needed to get up. The list went on and on. In the beginning of her recovery, so many people promised to help out and support him, and even promised to provide meals and moments of relief. Later however, the phone stopped ringing, meals stopped arriving at the house and my father tackled each day with just the two of them.

“Where are the people who promised they would be there?” I remember thinking. My sister and I lived a great distance away and were quite frustrated with the absence of our parents’ “friends” when they needed them most. When I would ask my father, he would chuckle and say, “Sometimes it’s just going to be the three of us; me, your mother and God. When you get to be my age, you realize that’s enough.” I’m reminded of that sentiment even now.

God is with us in those lonely moments. Although there may be times when there is no physical presence to hug us, God’s presence never leaves us alone.

Even now, I take solace in the fact that even when our most dependent friends are absent, God is closer than any of our friends or siblings could ever be.