A Letter To A Friend
Dear Friend,
I looked back at the year of 2007 and one of the significant things I saw was the past months of friendship and just want to tell you that it has been a pleasure knowing you. I'm not sure if you feel the same way but it would thrill me greatly if you do. Nevertheless, this post is dedicated to you. For my love towards you is not directly dependent on how much you can philo* me in return, though it is what I would very much look forward to - that our friendship would grow deeper.
How others would naturally respond to my friendship, has turned out to be very different when it came to you. That mismatched expectations resulted in me feeling rather perplexed and even (perhaps mistakenly) rejected. I have embraced the futility of asking you 'why?', so I resolved to asking God and myself. As a result, there were many painful episodes from which God has taken and opened my eyes to unconditional loving and how easily it can be contaminated if we're not careful because of our selfish desire for always wanting something back in return for what we give out.
By God's love and grace through the years of relationships experienced, I've developed courage to forgive and love despite being hurt, time and time again. Those lessons have become the base on which God could minister to the broken-hearted through me. With God, there is really no reason I, or anyone, should stop loving. There is a deeper understanding now. Through this friendship I have learnt how to let go of things, or people, I hold dearly to.
I'm not writing this to you to put you on a pedestal. For all that I have gained from this experience, God played the most part because of the grace He gave me. I thank God our paths have crossed. Loving and getting to know you have caused me to view many life's issues in ways that I've never thought of before.
I cannot explain exactly how I was drawn to you in the beginning. There were many. But whatever it is, it doesn't matter anymore. I've come to see you as someone very precious to me and, even before me and your family and friends, to God our Abba Father. It gives me great pleasure that we share many things together and I pray that you could truly apprehend God's purpose for your life. That you could find people whom you could find yourself connecting and whom you could labour together for the glory of His name.
So, there are just some people in your life which you would be willing to put yourself through the "the pain now is part of the happiness then" experience. For me, you have grown to become one of such. This is neither a compliment nor the opposite. It is just what it is and has turned out to be. It was not planned either. I believe that true love is pure in its pursuit as well. Perhaps that's what it means by "Love always hope" - this is a life-long learning process.
Your Faithful Friend
*'Phileo' is a love which consists of the glow of the heart kindled by the perception of that in the object which affords us pleasure. It is the response of the human [soul] to what appeals to it as pleasurable... The word was used to speak of a friendly affection. It is a love called out of one in response to a feeling of pleasure or delight which one experiences from an apprehension of qualities in another that furnish such pleasure or delight. 'Agapao' on the other hand, speaks of a love which is awakened by a sense of value in the object loved, an apprehension of its preciousness. - Kenneth Wuest
[Cp. Rev 22:15; Mt 6:5; 10:37; 23:6; Lk 20:46; Jn 11:3, 36; 16:27; 1 Cor 16:22]
Source:
Wuest's Word Studies, From the Greek New Testament, Vol 3, Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1992, #28, p. 62]:
I looked back at the year of 2007 and one of the significant things I saw was the past months of friendship and just want to tell you that it has been a pleasure knowing you. I'm not sure if you feel the same way but it would thrill me greatly if you do. Nevertheless, this post is dedicated to you. For my love towards you is not directly dependent on how much you can philo* me in return, though it is what I would very much look forward to - that our friendship would grow deeper.
How others would naturally respond to my friendship, has turned out to be very different when it came to you. That mismatched expectations resulted in me feeling rather perplexed and even (perhaps mistakenly) rejected. I have embraced the futility of asking you 'why?', so I resolved to asking God and myself. As a result, there were many painful episodes from which God has taken and opened my eyes to unconditional loving and how easily it can be contaminated if we're not careful because of our selfish desire for always wanting something back in return for what we give out.
By God's love and grace through the years of relationships experienced, I've developed courage to forgive and love despite being hurt, time and time again. Those lessons have become the base on which God could minister to the broken-hearted through me. With God, there is really no reason I, or anyone, should stop loving. There is a deeper understanding now. Through this friendship I have learnt how to let go of things, or people, I hold dearly to.
I'm not writing this to you to put you on a pedestal. For all that I have gained from this experience, God played the most part because of the grace He gave me. I thank God our paths have crossed. Loving and getting to know you have caused me to view many life's issues in ways that I've never thought of before.
I cannot explain exactly how I was drawn to you in the beginning. There were many. But whatever it is, it doesn't matter anymore. I've come to see you as someone very precious to me and, even before me and your family and friends, to God our Abba Father. It gives me great pleasure that we share many things together and I pray that you could truly apprehend God's purpose for your life. That you could find people whom you could find yourself connecting and whom you could labour together for the glory of His name.
So, there are just some people in your life which you would be willing to put yourself through the "the pain now is part of the happiness then" experience. For me, you have grown to become one of such. This is neither a compliment nor the opposite. It is just what it is and has turned out to be. It was not planned either. I believe that true love is pure in its pursuit as well. Perhaps that's what it means by "Love always hope" - this is a life-long learning process.
Your Faithful Friend
*'Phileo' is a love which consists of the glow of the heart kindled by the perception of that in the object which affords us pleasure. It is the response of the human [soul] to what appeals to it as pleasurable... The word was used to speak of a friendly affection. It is a love called out of one in response to a feeling of pleasure or delight which one experiences from an apprehension of qualities in another that furnish such pleasure or delight. 'Agapao' on the other hand, speaks of a love which is awakened by a sense of value in the object loved, an apprehension of its preciousness. - Kenneth Wuest
[Cp. Rev 22:15; Mt 6:5; 10:37; 23:6; Lk 20:46; Jn 11:3, 36; 16:27; 1 Cor 16:22]
Source:
Wuest's Word Studies, From the Greek New Testament, Vol 3, Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1992, #28, p. 62]:
