Friends And Foes

NOV. 2, 1981, 5:34 AM
FARM, STUDY

You discerned this theme, o son, still lying in bed. We shall “go with it” this morning, but I urge you to continue in our developed way… which means get up first and carry out the entire meditation in the writing position.

The title can imply a dichotomy… that friends and foes are “opposites” and that a person is one or the other. This is good Western thinking, and though it has some merits I continue to urge you to think beyond its confines.

So, another thought pattern is that each person is some combination of friend and foe, at the same time or in different situations. Thus, in the aggregate the people around you are always potentially helpful but also potentially hostile and harmful.

Yet another way of thinking (so you can be assured that there are not only two polar ones) holds that the main determiner of “friend” or “foe” is your own mind and spirit. That is, by your own perceptions and your own actions stemming from these perceptions you can “create” friends… and foes.

How about one more? As you are in a happy relationship with yourself and, particularly, with Me, the people you meet and with whom you interact are more apt to be friends. Conversely, to the extent that parts of yourself are foes of other parts and to the extent that you are at enmity with Me others are more likely to be foes.

Now what does this all mean? “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear”. Friends are those who help with the chores of life, even the really onerous ones… and also allow you, even encourage you, to do the same with them and others. This is important. Friends don’t just do for you, but work you into a mutuality of give and take. So, you see a person who gives to you excessively could be considered a foe… akin to the one who gives not at all… or gives in harmful ways.

I come to you as the Holy Spirit, the teaching and comforting nature of the Christ who was most fully in Jesus here in the earth. I come as a friend, and therefore I give to you in many ways. At the same time I ask a good deal of you… often more than you can produce. This is an important aspect of friendship.

You often exhibit this as you travel. You are quite willing to write to friends and invite yourself to stay with them. You give of yourself to them, and they have the opportunity of offering you bed, board, and friendship in return. You see that you do not do this enough with your own young son. Now that you have the insight you may see needs to change ways in which you show friendship to him. Develop more mutuality.