Hairy MacLary From Donaldson's Dairy - Lynley Dodd

This was a great read when our children were small, and the names of these roguish dogs lives on in our house in place of the actual dog breed names! Here's what happens...

Hairy MacClary is a scruffy mix-breed dog who lives at the local dairy. He wanders round the town with his motley collection of friends sniffing the smells and getting into trouble!

What sets these stories apart is, not just Hairy but his pack of chums as well, all aptly named to fit their breed. And this brings us to our fundamental human truth for this story - we are made for relationships, and who we choose matters.

While most of my friends have considerably less fur than Hairy's, his need to travel as a pack on his adventures resonates with us as humans. We were built for relationship - no man is an island. Whether we consider ourselves introverts or extroverts we do not do well alone - we need a pack.

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2v18

Right at the very beginning of the Bible God makes a statement about the way He has made people - it's not good for them to be alone. They need others around them - so much so that God immediately sets about making another for Adam.

There is, according to many news outlets, currently a loneliness epidemic. And this is in an age where technology allows us more contact with people than ever before. There is something about being with other people, not just merely knowing what they are up to, that we desire as human beings. So what does the Bible say about this?

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13v20

And here we have our fundamental Bible truth - who we are friends with matters.

While God may have designed us to need others around us, He gives us a choice over who that will be, but with these great words of advise - hang out with the wise, you'll grow in wisdom, hang out with fools and you'll become an idiot. The people we surround ourselves with have a great influence on us.

For Hairy MacClary, his friends encourage him in his endeavours - whether they are wise or not, and they all have to face the consequences when they get too near the local cat - Scar-Face Claw - who sends them all scampering back to their houses.

Over the course of our lives people will come and go. We will make bonds that last with some, and others will just be fleeting. They will have a great influence over what we do, what we believe and who we become. So how do we make sure we always walk with the wise not the fools?

There is temptation - especially with the children in our lives - to cut ourselves off from anyone who is a 'bad influence'. This is a very general term which can mean anything really - When I was in my 20s, I was deemed a 'bad influence' on some of the other Christians I knew, mainly because I thought you could take the Bible seriously and have fun. But it's a very elastic term which can be moulded into whatever you want it to be. When it comes to the chidren in our lives, it's hard not to just think of any other child as a bad influence and ban them from associating with the ferral beings. But this just leads to friendlessness and a dependency on others to tell you who you can hang out with.

The best question to ask when it comes to choosing friends is "Do they make me more like Jesus?"

There are some people in our lives, dear saints who have trod the path of Christian living for decades, who just naturally make us more Christ-like. Their wisdom and kindness, honed over many years and chipped away at by the Holy Spirit, just draws you to the face of Jesus whenever you meet with them. Lovely!

Then there are others who are still being honed... a lot! There are even those who don't know Jesus at all. But this question still stands. How do they make you more like Jesus? If they just produce in you frustration or weariness or a desire to beat them over the head regularly then the answer is they are definitely NOT making you more like Christ. And so we have to ask ourselves a second question at this point - "why not?"

The answers to this are many fold but the Bible always tells us to start with ourselves when we come across a problem (Matthew 7v3-5, the old plank in an eye!) and so there we must start.

People draw me away from Jesus when I don't want to be drawn near to Him. If I'm looking for a way off the path then I'll find one, even if its a rough worn, barely visible sheep track, built onto a precipice, I'll take it, it's just sinful nature.

People also draw me away from Jesus when I'm not wanting what He wants. If I want people to behave a certain way because it would make my life easier then that isn't what Jesus wants for my relationships - He never took the easy route when it came to people. If I'm wanting this relationship to take the place of Jesus and provide salvation from something, then I'm not wanting what He wants either - in fact I'm kicking Him off His spot and popping someone else up there - and that new person will fail, they just will.

These reasons require change - change in me. I need to get a better vision of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to make me a better friend. Which He gladly will.

However, there are times when, the friendships I have with others need to stop. When those people have too much influence over me, too much power, too much control. When they sap my energy so much I can't build my other realtionships well. When the relationship isn't balanced and fair but one sided and based on me fulfilling someone's needs and wants. These are the relationships of fools and they require me to step away.

If we can learn to ask ourselves these questions and teach the children in our lives to do the same we grow discernment with the Spirit's help. Which is a far, far better tool than legalism, which rule keeping flowers. Hairy MacClary, Hercules Morse (as big as a horse), Bottoley Potts (all cover in spots), Muffin McClay (like a bundle of hay) and Schniztel von Krumm (with a very low tum) form a friendship which lasts. Yes they get into trouble. Yes they aren't always good friends to one another. Yes they should just all turn on the scruffy cat and scare it to death. But they are wise friends to one another, spurring one another on to better things (usually a juicey bone).

So find your pack, however big or small that may be. Teach your children to find theirs. And grow to be more like Jesus together.