Blessed Companionship

A previous blog post was about sacrificial listening, and that got me thinking about companionship. As terrible as people, including me, are, G^d created them and me too, for fellowship. In Genesis, right after the creation of man, G^d says, “t is NOT good for man to be alone…” and created Eve. Now that doesn’t mean that G^d made all of us for marriage. Jesus Himself, was a bachelor, but Jesus himself practiced sacrificial listening and practiced fellowship, not just with the disciples, but with Mary of Magdala, and many more.

If Jesus wanted companionship, so ought we. Strangely enough I enjoy companionship most when I travel and when I hunt and fish. I LOVE hunting and fishing with lots of folks, but my son Andrew and I have got to hunt and fish a lot over the last 14-15 months.

I love hunting and fishing, and I love it so much that I will do it alone, if necessary. Fishing is a sport that lends itself to fellowship, but not deer hunting. Deer hunting, you pretty much hunt alone. But the sweet fellowship comes as you travel to the hunting spot. Even more fellowship happens after the hunt as you describe that buck you killed, or those deer you saw, but didn’t shoot. It also comes as you share the fox squirrel that crossed near you, as you relate the hawk calls you heard, as you talk about the cold or the wind or the rain.

Much of the joy of the moments reward us again as we share it with our companions. And, though sacrificial listening is required at times, much of the listening is more joyous than sacrificial. It shocks me how much more pleasure I get from hunting with someone, even though the actual hunting is 100% alone these days.

So, let us NOT take companionship for granted. Let us give thanks to G^d and to each other for the joys of sweet fellowship—especially outdoors.