Favorite People

Have you ever had favorite people? I don't mean that you play favorites with them, or that they are necessarily "better" people. But that there are people in the world whose very presence can make life better because of the way their personality or behavior triggers some joy in yours. 

I'm not explaining this well.

I know a man, almost like a second father, who I can talk to, who, even if he doesn't give me any advice is just so mellow and ok with things that after I talk to him things are better. I am more at peace. I can sit with him in a corner of the lawn and we can say nothing, and it's  good. These are God qualities; God is like this. And so I appreciate these God qualities in him. 

There are also some boys I know that make me laugh with the antics they come up with. Who thinks of making a race out of drinking a whole Cream Soda and then running up and down the yard? It's almost as bad as the people who intentionally try to swallow cinnamon. And yet, that enthusiasm, thrill in the simple things in life, and the "what if", are all God qualities. God loves the creative and strange and, honestly, who else would have come up with giraffes and platypus and moose and hissing cockroaches. Can't you just see God's enthusiasm?   

There is so much to see and taste and, while I don't recommend drinking fish and creek water, how often do I miss the thrill of living the life God has put in front of me because I am unwilling to sit in silence with God? Because I am unwilling to revel in his creative enthusiasm? When I enjoy these qualities in others do I remember that God is maker and manifester of these qualities?

How about you? Do you have favorite people? How do they remind you of God?