R e f l e c t i o n s

  "The Ladies of the Sweetwater Book of the Month Club"

    reflections Of… Friends!

                         by Alan P. Scaglione

The word friend has taken on a whole new meaning in the age of Facebook.

With some people boasting of thousands of “Friends”, I always have to say… “Really? They are all your friends?”
Would they drop everything and come help you in the middle of the night?
Would they call just because they knew you were having a bad day?
Would they share their last piece of cheesecake with you?
Okay, Okay? The last one…Alan’s Rule: You would HAVE to be a “friend” before I’ll share my cheesecake with you! Bottom Line!
But… our society has just made everyone your “friend” which in turn, makes “no one” your friend!
My lifelong best friend Ellen Bullard once told me…
“I’m not looking for a certain number of friends…I’m just looking for a friend I can be certain of!”
I have a Faithful Five—they are the ones I can go to for advice, consolation, support and sometimes… a good swift kick in the pants!
I trust them to be honest, even when it’s NOT what I want to hear—I need them to say it so I can address it IF it’s something that needs to be addressed.
And… I trust them with my dreams- Like writing a novel and having it published and sharing it with the world—even a Book of the Month Club!
And “share it” is exactly what I did—with the Ladies of the Sweetwater Book of the Month Club!
You see them in the picture?
WOW! What a wonderfully articulate, passionate, opinionated group of ladies—I was just in Author Heaven all evening! 3 hours long!
They grilled me with questions about the book, the reasons why I wrote certain things, my motivation for certain characters and… what’s in the Sequel?
It was phenomenal!
And they are all… the "Faithful Few" Friends of my dear friend Cindy.
Something Cindy said that night was “If you look around this room, all of us have gone through One Unexpected Event and survived – together!”
And I could see it—this was Cindy’s Faithful Five—only doubled!
Whether they went to Paris together, shared school time memories of their children or attended the same Bible Study—they were connected!
And there was that certain connection between all of them that said “I’ve got your back—You can count on me—I will be there for you!”
And it reminded me of what a “real friend” is-- not the 457 friends you have on Facebook.
In Luke chapter 5: 17-20, Jesus marveled at the Faith of a Few Good Friends who had lowered their sick friend through the roof for Jesus to heal.
Jesus said “And when He saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.”
It is the only time in the Bible when it was someone else’s faith that Jesus rewarded—the Faith of his Friends!
So… friends? Real Friends… they got HIS respect—Jesus valued friendship—enough to heal someone because of it!
And the Ladies of the Sweetwater Book of the Month Club—they are Cindy’s True Friends… just like my Faithful Five.
Just consider… The next time you boast about all of the “Friends” you have out on Facebook—ask yourself this…
How many of them would Jesus consider a true friend?
True enough to marvel at their friendship and heal YOU because of THEM!
And remember:  It’s okay to have less true friends than more fake friends, which really aren’t friends at all!
Yeh—I agree with Ellen—I’d rather have a friend I can be certain of!
And Cindy—looks like you have a few!

Sharing my Reflections--

Brother “A”

Send me an email—just as simple as selecting the link—Share your Reflections with me!

Tell me about YOUR Faithful Five?