Run to You
“Fourteen years!” she shouted. We were studying Genesis and I had just asked our five-year-old, “How many years Jacob had worked for Rachel?” “Fourteen years! Fourteen years!” she chanted. “Yes, technically he worked a total of fourteen years. Very good.” I love reading the Bible but there is something spectacular about reading and studying the Bible with a child. “So, Jacob started out working seven years for Rachel, got tricked into marrying her big sis Leah, then worked another seven years to finally marry his true love. You got it?” “Got it!” “You know what that tells you?” “What?” she asked. “It tells you that if a man loves you, not only will he work for you, he'll wait for you. He will work to provide for his family, and he will wait to start smooching you and all that other stuff that I'll tell you about later.” “What other stuff?” “I said I'll tell you later, much later.”
There is a memory that plays through my mind every time I see our daughter and one of her friends. One day she met this little girl in the park. They hit it off and played for hours. I set up a playdate for the next week so that they could get their nails done. When we arrived for the playdate, we saw the little girl standing across the street in front of the nail salon. As soon as she caught sight of Charlotte, she began running towards us and shouting her name, “Charlotte! Charlotte!” I was so stunned at the level of excitement this little girl, whom we had only met once before, had in response to my daughter that I did not realize Charlotte had also started running toward her friend, across the street! Thank God no cars were coming. This is how it should be, I thought to myself, as they embraced and took turns picking each other up. This is how friends should respond to one another, a friend should run to you!
God always has a way of confirming things, even the things that seem most trivial. I was talking to a friend whose granddaughter is close to Charlotte. “How is Ella doing in her new school?” I asked. She explained that though Ella had a group of classmates that she played with, she had yet to find her best friend. She went on to say that there was a particular classmate whom she thought would make a great best friend for Ella but when she asked her granddaughter about the little girl, she said the most peculiar thing. “What did she say,” I asked. “She said that the girl was nice but she wasn’t a friend because friends run to you.” I almost fell out of my chair. “What!?” I asked, wanting her to repeat herself. And she did, “She said, ‘Friends run to you.’”
“You are kidding me?” “Yeah, I know, can you believe how ridiculous that sounds?” “Yeah! I can believe it! That’s my mantra! That is my standard for Charlotte's friends. My litmus test for Charlotte’s friends is that a true, genuine friend will run to you. It may sound silly but, if someone is not excited about seeing you, if they don’t run to you, what kind of friend are they going to make?” “Really?” “Yes, really. Charlotte is a run-to-you, pick-you-up, twirl-you-around type of friend and she needs people like that in her life, we all do. Your granddaughter is obviously wise beyond her years. Think about it. Do you really want a friend who is less than thrilled to be in your presence? This applies to romantic relationships too. Do you want a man who could care less if you are around? Sure, they are only five years old now, but Ella has the right idea, life only gets more difficult, and more challenging. Whether they are a friend or a potential spouse, you need people who are smitten with you, ride-or-die, run-to-you types because when times get tough, true love is the only thing that endures.”
True love was the motivation when God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world. He set the standard for friendships, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). And He set the standard for romantic relationships, “An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life” (Prov. 31:10, 12). “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Ephes. 5:25). If a friend cannot run to you, be there in the good times and the bad, they are not your friend. If a woman is not good, she should not be your wife. If a man cannot work for you, wait for you, or lay down his life for you, he does not love you. God set the standard for all relationships; His name is Jesus Christ. Run to Him.
