Jesus in my Pocket – Matthew 28:20

In the third grade at Adams Elementary School a little 4 1/2-inch doll changed my life.

Dolly sat inside my desk with her toothpick-thin legs bracing her behind the pink eraser. Sure no one suspected I’d smuggled this contraband from home, I’d play with her while the teacher wasn’t watching, making Dolly dance as I pretended to be engrossed in my coloring.

Dolly went with me everywhere.

My friend was always ready to play, even when the teacher was talking and couldn’t see my hand in my desk. Dolly’s whisperings made me smile, and none of my classmates knew why. I could take Dolly wherever I went, because she easily fit in my coat pocket.

I could even slip her into the pocket in my dress and take her out to play at recess. Oh, how I loved having a friend who would be with me wherever I went.

Then Pete saw her. He was one of the rowdy boys who the teacher assigned to the desk next to mine—hoping the quiet Kathy could influence him to be more attentive. He smirked and threatened to report Dolly.

Then I knew my friend couldn’t come to school anymore. She wasn’t that great a friend after all, since someone could steal her away, or she could fall out of my pocket and be lost.

Jesus, my true best friend.

Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command … This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:14 and 17 (NIV).

He also said, “… surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NIV).

Though Pete was an irritation to me he awoke me to the reality that I needed to choose Jesus as my best friend. Jesus proved his love for me by sacrificing his life for mine. There is no friend like him, and he will always be with me, whether or not I have a pocket.

by Kathy Sheldon Davis