Unexpected friendship

Okay, so I’m a cat person.  No, I’m a dog person.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, actually i think I’m just an animal person.  Whenever I see a cat, whether our walking, going to a friends, whatever, I reach out my hand in a gesture of friendship.  I let them sniff my hand, and then I gently pet their head and assure them that I am a safe person, I am an unexpected friend.  I do this with dogs as well.  Animals are generally great friends.  However, I’ve noticed, that if they’ve been abused, neglected or harmed in any way, they’re skittish; and it takes a lot more time and effort to bring them about.  If this is true of animals, and we give them the grace to take the time they need to feel safe, we need to ask ourselves, “Do I give grace to others?  Do I give them the time they need to realize that I am a safe person?  Am I a safe person?”  I wonder.  I, like all of you, have been wounded by people, neglected, treated badly, rejected.  I need someone’s hand to be extended for a pretty long time.  People can’t just give up easily if they want to break through the barriers.  Now, I’m not as bad as I used to be, but the wounds are deep, and the fear is real.  And we all should be cautious, not every person is a safe person.  But I want to be a safe person for others, as much as I want safe people extending their hand out to me.

FatherGod, make me like You.  Make me safe and trustworthy.  Make me strong and longsuffering.   Help me to dismantle my walls of self-protection, and trust you fully to be my only source.  If I let You lead, seek first Your Kingdom, in the relationships in my life, You will give me discernment, to know who’s safe and who’s not.  I know I have hurt people by being stand-offish.  I have both knowingly and unknowingly rejected others.  I don’t want to control the flow of people in and out of my life anymore.  You know better, God, You know best.  Let me see with Your eyes, hear with Your ears.  Give me Your view of others.  Make me stop thinking of me, and think of them instead.  I know I’ll still get hurt, and I know I’ll still disappoint others, no one is perfect.  But with Your guidance I can find, and be and Unexpected friend. And all of us could use these chance meetings on our arduous and sometimes treacherous journeys. Amen!!