Friends are friends forever

I really like the daycare that I have Emerson at. It is a church/christian based daycare, the teachers are super nice and very approachable. But the things I like the most is that they call everyone in the daycare friends. My nephew also goes to daycare there, he will be 4 next month and when I was going to start taking Emerson there, Xander said to his Mom, "Emerson is not my cousin, he is my friend." Even though Emerson is still his cousin, I thought it was adorable that Xander called him a friend. Everyone is a friend, sometimes their friends hurt them, or do bad things, and sometimes their friends play nice with them and share their food and toys but they are always friends. We could learn a lot from a bunch of kids in daycare and kids in general.
Kids don't care where you came from, how your day is going, how much money you have or what you look like. Kids just care if you are there to play with you and how you treat them and others around you.They give love and affection without much thought to it and are always excited to see you again.
In the New Testament, there is a story of children wanting to see Jesus and the adults were trying to stop them. Jesus told the people to let the children go to him. He says that we must have the mind of a child to get into Heaven. Jesus was calling us to think more like children. We are suppose to be open to new ideas, new paths, and new adventures. Think about kids, they just want to learn everything and figure out how everything interacts and they always want new friends. To find joy in the moment to worry less and to love one another.
How can you not love someone that you call a friend? When you talk about someone being your friend it is someone you respect, trust, love and enjoy spending time with.
If we are truly following God's word we would treat everyone with those characteristics. Jesus is the glue that sticks us all together. We strive to follow his path, to be as much like Jesus as possible. Maybe the challenge this week is to refer to everyone we meet as friend? Sure people might look at you a little strange when you greet them but maybe not. I am curious to see how this would change your outlook and the way you treat those around you. I am going to take this challenge and encourage you all to do that same.
The wonderful thing about friendship like love is that there is more then enough to go around and it multiples and spreads. So will you take the challenge? And greet everyone you encounter this week as friend? I hope so, and I look forward to hearing how this affected your week.
Keep walking the faith, and share your thoughts, feelings and reactions. I look forward to hearing for you friends!
Until next time,
~Michelle