As I listened to these words—from my Platoon Sergeant to her soldiers—I longed for them to be the words and the heart found in our churches. Alas, that it’s so rare.

Let’s commit ourselves altogether again to “walk in a manner worthy of [fitting, proper, of comparable value to] the calling” to which we’ve been called (Ephesians 4.1).

“The culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without complaining. Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4.7-11, NET).

This morning I read where Owen Barfield was introduced into Jack Lewis’s life. World War I had just ended and both were back at Oxford, where they met through a common friend (Leo Baker), when each was about twenty-one years old. Owen Barfield “would become one of the most important people in Jack’s life” (90). In fact, Jacobs concludes, “it is Barfield, and Barfield alone, without whom we could not imagine C. S. Lewis as we now know him” (91).

That set me to thinking. We’ve all known some one or two or so folks like this in our own lives—life-shapers for good! I can think of, oh, maybe a handful of friends, some formal and some informal teachers, who have had a life-shaping impact on me for good. My shortcomings and failures are no reflection on them, but much of what is good in my life has some direct connections to their having been in my life. Friends like these are great mercies of God. Think a little today of those who’ve had such an impact in your own life, and thank the Father of every good and perfect gift for their faithful and fruitful friendship.