Cushioning Life’s Blows

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”~ Proverbs 18:24

Have you ever spent a night in a cheap motel? You inspect the drinking glasses to see if they are clean, check the tub for cockroaches and look under the bed for dead bodies, right? As you latch the cheap chain lock to secure the door made of fiberwood,(knowing one kick with a steel-toed boot could send that door crashing down), you turn off the lights and settle into bed.

Ah yes, the bed… which holds a 20-year old mattress. As you lay horizontal, you feel your body sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of 675,000 other sleepers who have gone before you. Tossing and turning all night you’re sure that one of the mattress coils is digging into your shoulder blade and you contemplate sleeping on the questionably vacuumed floor to get a better night’s rest. How bad could laying on some dust bunnies and miscellaneous toenail clippings be?

Finally dawn arrives and you can’t wait to jump out of the torture chamber.

Crisis living without friends is similar.

Everyone will confront problems and events in their life that are unexpected. Maybe your brother has stopped talking to you. Your teenage daughter has a drug problem. Or worse still, your spouse wants a divorce.

I get that. My marriage is still flourishing but in the last few years I’ve experienced kids with drug problems, job losses, having to downsize, unfilled dreams, the mysteries of undiagnosed arm and hand pain, and worst yet, a granddaughter dying.
Sleeping on the floor or on a lumpy mattress just won’t cut it.

I’ve depended on and had cushioning from family and friends to fend off life’s blows. Maybe my bedroom mattress has lumps and bumps that keep me awake but I’ve had friends to come along side of me to pad life’s catastrophes. Old ones, new ones. People who don’t have to solve my problems but provide a listening ear.

A friend who sticks closer than a brother… now that’s the makings of a good mattress.