I have a very busy schedule this weekend — including traveling — so I made sure I could carve out five minutes for this week’s Five Minute Friday exercise. Kate Motaugn (http://katemotaung.com/2017/03/16/five-minute-friday-friend/) supplied this week’s prompt — FRIEND — and turned it over the FMF crew to expand and embellish. And, of course, we meet and greet at her place to share and network. It’s fun, fun, fun and keeps our neurons sharp.

Ready to join in yet?

Okay, here’s another take from Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat. Don’t listen to me. Listen to Elizabeth.

“The FMF community is a welcoming, fun and caring group of writers. They have helped me stretch and grow both as a writer and a person. The challenge to write about a single word for only five minutes is an excellent exercise and God has revealed thoughts to me that I don’t think I would have come up with otherwise.”

There you go. Now to this week’s task. The timer is set. Let’s GO…

What a friend I have in Jesus …

That was the first thought that popped into my mind and, yes, I did personalize the lyrics,

Jesus is not only my Savior, but truly is my permanent, never-to-leave-me best friend.

Certainly I have a host of real time friends. Bernie has been my best friend — and was my best man — since the fourth grade … and that’s a long, long time. Although we regularly talk to each other, a 1,500 mile physical separation limits face-to-face time. In fact, we haven’t physically seen each other in about a dozen years.

Karen was more than my wife. She was my friend, soulmate and confidant. She knew where the skeletons were hidden and loved me anyway … for 40 years.

I have a web of close friends I can reach out to at any time for any reason and know they will be there for me. I have hundreds of social media friends who support me with their wit and wisdom {and sometimes lack thereof}.

Friendships are very special. But they have to be nurtured. They have to be cultivated. You can’t take them for granted.

But Jesus is just at a higher level. …STOP

… He’s there 24/7, 365 {366 in leap years}. He chides me. He guides me. He lifts me up. He slows me down {or speeds me up}. He lights my way. He gives me solace. He gives me peace.

And that is the quintessential definition of a friend.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: When you come to a wall, you can either climb it or you can simply walk around until you find a door. Don’t make life so hard — look for the doors!