I had my friend Riana come over. She now wears two hats. The first and most important is ‘friend’. The second is ‘colleague’. Yes! The company I work for is paying her to help me here in South Africa. We are now “Team SA!” I have to admit she is going to be a great help. I’m working quite long hours and once she knows the ropes I’ll be able to share the load. When I’m off on holiday towards the end of the year, she’ll take the lead in dealing with the bulk of the applicant documentation, which hopefully will not be too much of a baptism of fire. The idea is that I will have taught her the ropes by then. What’s fun is that I am given a great deal of leeway with this job. I just get on with it. It’s very trusting of the MD, but I appreciate it. We all make a good team.
Friends are more important than I once realised. Mike is and for the last 32 years has been my best friend. But it was only really about eight years ago that I encountered a bunch of ladies who have since become great friends. Riana was one of them. We get on so well because many of her personality traits dovetail with Mike’s. I know him very well so when Riana comes up with some ideas and preferences, I sometimes look at her in astonishment. Point in case:
One day we were just driving somewhere and out of the blue she says, “that intersection should have a circle!”
“What?!” I gasp, astounded! There cannot be another person who feels as strongly about traffic circles as my husband. But there is. Riana! They think so similarly it’s remarkable, so I can pretty much figure out how Riana may react to something because I’ve lived with a similar thinker for more than three decades. Chalk and cheese. We get on so well. And now she is working with me.
She actually has one up on me when it comes to this company. When she was still in the UK, we planned on her joining the company and the MD, Diane who is in London, invited her to the office for an introduction. She has met some of the people. I have only met them on Skype. How crazy is that?! My colleague in Abu Dhabi is Dee. I work closely with her and she is visiting Cape Town for a week in December, so I will get to meet her in real life for the first time in two years. To meet Diane and the rest of the London office, I will have to wait until I visit England again and there are no immediate plans for that.
There is an unexpected Bible verse about friends. To set the scene, you really should go and read 1 Chronicles 27:25-33. It’s all about the roles of different people in King David’s management team. eg Azmaveth was in charge of the royal storehouses; Ezri was in charge of the field workers who farmed the land; Joash was in charge of the supplies of olive oil; Obil was in charge of the camels while Jehdeiah was in charge of the donkeys. Ahithophel was the king’s counsellor.
Vs 33b
Hushai the Arkite was the king’s friend.
What a role in the royal circle.
Imagine King David saying, “Just be my friend. That’s all I need you to do.” He had lost his best friend Jonathan. The Lord provided Hushai to be the king’s friend.
Yes, friends are important.
Value them.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂