First Things First

Typically before we go to bed, Doug and I put our BlackBerrys on the “phone only” setting.  This keeps us from being awakened by email notifications in the night.  Last night I forgot, as I occasionally do, and just before we drifted off to sleep my phone indicated that I had new email.  I reached to change the setting, and as I did I saw that the emails were from my dear friend Joanna.

I resisted the temptation to read the emails then and there, but it was hard.  You see, Joanna and her family are thousands and thousands of miles away, serving as missionaries in the Solomon Islands (South Pacific, near Australia).  Our families are very close, and we miss them greatly.  Any news from them, whether by email, blog post, package, or letter, is treasured and enjoyed by all. 

When I woke up this morning, the emails from Joanna were one of the first things on my mind.  But, as I thought about reading those emails, I realized something – this morning I don’t have nearly the same excitement about sitting down with my Savior.  Ouch.

The truth is that our relationship with this family is so strong because their passionate love for the Lord beckons us.  We want to be like them.  We want to be with them.  We want to soak up His presence through theirs.  Friendship and companionship were created for that very purpose.  But, I have to be careful to make sure that I do not replace my direct relationship with the Lord with my relationship with friends, no matter how godly.

I have been up for nearly an hour and a half, and I have yet to read Joanna’s emails.  Instead, I have been challenged through the course of the morning to be just as excited about time with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   As beautiful as our friendships here on earth may be, they are nothing without the foundational relationship that must exist with the Creator of those friendships.