Connect The Dots

My husband and I have been together for 17 years.  I met my girlfriend shortly before this so she and I have been together for a little bit longer. We know each other fairly well at this point though we still get insights into each other as we grow older together. She and I were introduced through a mutual friend. At the time, she was going through a major upheaval in her life and this is what sort of bonded us together I think. We have some similar ways of doing things and of thinking. It's a good basis for a friendship. Plus, her extreme tolerance for all of my ridiculousness helps smooth things out!

We talk on the phone several times a week but don't see each other in person that often. Yesterday though we had lunch together. I was in the middle of telling her a stupid story. I got to the crux of the problem and she immediately knew why it was upsetting. She knew because she is upset by the same kind of stuff but also because, as I later reflected, she knows me. And how nice it is to be known by someone not only in a close-friends-kind-of-a-way but also in the way of not having to explain every single detail. The person you are talking with just knows.

I have read a lot lately about having a relationship with God. What an abstract and difficult concept that is to me. It isn't the same thing as having lunch with your girlfriend who is physically present. Or is it? Much of what I have read suggests that God knows what is in your heart; what you are thinking and feeling. I have also read that we are all made in the image of God (another abstract concept). As I was reflecting on my lunch yesterday, I was able to make the leap from the everyday to the divine. My girlfriend knows me fairly well-could probably finish some of my sentences-and she certainly knew why I was upset about what I had told her. It isn't a stretch to believe that it is similar to being known by God. It's the divine nature of intimacy I think. And how fortunate to recognize that in the everyday.
Libby