A letter to a friend
By Erik Farstad
February 2, 1998
Dear friend,
Sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote to you. It seems I have little time for you lately, whether it’s to talk to you or to write you a letter. Please forgive me. It’s as if I take our friendship for granted sometimes, because I always know you’re going to be there for me no matter what I do! I come to you, more often than not, when I need a shoulder to cry on, a piece of advice or some wisdom during a troubled time. I bet you feel like I only go to you during the tough times. I talk and hang out with my other friends, here where I live, during all the good times, but don’t give you your due credit. If I remember correctly, you were the one who introduced me to those friends in the first place. But you still love me and call me your friend. Thanks for always being an example to me.
In your letters to me, you talk of where you live and how you’re preparing a place when I come there. The descriptions of your home sound so beautiful, like nothing I can dream of (especially looking at where I live). You tell me that one day I can come and visit, to stay forever. Wow, how exciting. Yet over time my excitement dies. Perhaps it’s because I focus too much on my life, my world, where I live, and not on my dream vacation yet to come. You told me that my stay here will only be for a short time, that my real life will begin when I’m with you. So why do I give so much attention to this place? Why do I worry about making my life better here, when I should be working to bring more lives to you? It’s seems when I take my eyes off of your world and place them on mine, I stop living for you and start living for myself! Perhaps I need to go back to your letters, to remind myself of what is important in my life. I’m so thankful that you took time to write those to me, they have been such a help to me here. Without your writings I would be lost in this world, wondering if there was anything more to my existence than just living in darkness.
In your letters, you many time refer to "the others." I assume you mean all those people around me. You asked me to bring them a message for you, one of love and forgiveness. The very same message you first gave me. Oh, how I remember that day you came into my life. You filled an emptiness in me like nothing ever could. What once was dark became light and what was full of despair became full of hope. You say my life is to be a living testimony of your changing power to those around me. Me? I often wonder how, how can I change lives like you? It is then that I am reminded of what you once told me: I do not change lives, but the changes within me does. When you changed my life, you left me a guide, you left me your spirit. Your living spirit inside of me is what motivates me to act, to be an influence, to love, to share your gift with those in my world. Oh, friend please continue to guide me. I do not have the words, the wisdom nor the heart to love like you do. When I am not in the mood, change my mood. When I want to be selfish, convict me to be selfless. But most important of all, please grant me your eyes. For I desire to see the world as you do. Yet I do know, as your letters describe, that I first have to get my heart in the right place. I beg you, challenge me, convict me, mold me, so that my heart will always be on you and your world.
Oh, one last thing my friend. Jesus, I LOVE YOU!
ME
In Him, "E"