The Best Of Me

I Corinthians 1:9 -- "You were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

At Ponte Vedra - by Kelly Babb Dalton

That wonderful smell on a westward breeze that brings with it salt, sand, and green sea plants filled my lungs and I sighed deeply. The Atlantic Ocean, still cold from winter, rolled in over my toes giving me goose bumps and brought a smile to my lips. My dearest friend in the whole world walked beside me. His head bent down in a low setting sun as he looked for shark's teeth among the caches of shells exposed by an outgoing tide. This man brought out the best in me and walking next to my husband along the Florida sea shore brought back sixteen years of wonderful memories.

I like me best with I'm with Steven. I am myself. I am relaxed. I am filled with the joy that comes from being his wife and the mother of our two boys. I am strong. I am confident. I am clear-headed and intelligent. There can be no doubt that I have grown walking next to him. I have learned more about the grace and love of Jesus Christ from him than I have from any other human being. And walking next to him on date night, picking up shark's teeth from a nearly deserted beach as the sun slips below the horizon - is very much like coming home for me.

I think back to the very first time we strolled the sands, hand-in-hand - the beginning of a new passion for the history that can be gleaned from the sands along the Eastern Seaboard. It was right before we got married. Walking with Steven like this - is just as wonderful now as it was back then, sixteen years ago. I am aglow in his fellowship - and I am proud of who I am.

I like me best when I'm with Steven.

This morning when I read verse 9 in I Corinthians chapter 1 -  I was reminded what warm fellowship we are granted in the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We can be ourselves. Completely relaxed and filled with the joy that comes from being bought with a fervent passion like no other on Earth. We can grow. We can thrive. We can flourish.

Tried and true fellowship brings a richness that can not be found in any other place. Only in a true friendship can we say that we like ourselves best. Fellowship that brings out the best in us: pushing us when we need to grow, rejoicing with us when we triumph, and holding us tenderly when the tears fall uncontrollably - THAT is a fellowship to be treasured. And THAT is what we are given in the fellowship of our Savior.

A fellowship in which we like ourselves best, the only fellowship in which we are totally free of our faults, of our sins, and of our shortcomings. Jesus gives us a fellowship within which we can truly grow - within which we can like ourselves best.


How very precious is that?