Tuesday, April 16, 2013

SHE'S MY SISTER


There's a song running through my head today. It's a song composed and arranged by a woman of faith and the chorus goes, “She’s my sister, far across the sea, or right next door to me, she’s my sister. And we’ll walk hand in hand with God, holding to the iron rod, with faith enduring to the end, we will be eternal friends.”  [Written by Janice Kapp Perry]

I write thinking of a friend. There’s no particular reason why we are friends. I once knew heaps about her – facts – some good, many bad, others indifferent. Yes, I once knew a lot about her, but I didn’t know her. Now, as much as one human being can know another, I know her.

She’s the lady who once came looking for me almost every day for weeks on end while I wallowed in the lowest despond. She’s the lady who reintroduced me to the
Wairua Tapu and helped me see my own inner beauty at a time when it was not at all apparent. She’s the lady who now lets me give back to her what she once so abundantly gave to me.

We have sorrowed and joyed together. We have hit rock bottom and found our best friend and big brother was right there – loving and lifting us back up. We share a faith in Him and all He has done, continues to do and will yet do for us. We have changed and been changed by knowing each other.

Maybe if we hadn’t shared the bitter and the sweet times we wouldn’t be so close. Maybe if we didn’t share a foundational faith in Jesus Christ we would not be friends. Who knows? Who cares? When life ends, and only the distilled essence remains, the truth re-emerges and only love matters. 

As another woman of faith once wrote, “Na te aroha i piri ai te rongo māu ki tēnei whenua.  Ka tipu te pono; ka tipu te pono, me te tika.  The spirit of love has been firmly fixed by what I have heard from you in this place where I was born. May the fact of that grow; may the truth of that grow, and become a guiding reality.” (Written by Ngōi Pewhairangi)

Yes there’s a song running through my head today, and I’m glad to know that she’s my sister.  She’s my friend.

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