coming alongside

I really like the image of a tugboat coming alongside a massive tanker or ocean liner to steer them into a port. There is something almost ludicrous about it - the tug totally dwarfed by this massive vessel, and yet they are able to hitch up for a period of time and bring them gently home to dock.
Isn't spiritual friendship the same? There is something incomparable about those times where God allows us to come alongside someone, just for a season, and help them find that place where they discover they are beloved of God. There is this massive vessel of their life - so complex and so unique, full of their stories and wounds. And then just little old me, overwhelmed, frightened and humbled by its height and width and depth. But if we can remain small as we approach their huge story, God gives us the grace to encourage, maybe even guide and steer a little. And bit by bit they get back on course, they begin to hear again that Voice that calls them beloved. And we get to bear witness to this, like a midwife seeing the miracle of birth for the tenthousandth time without its beauty ever being diminished.
my prayer is that we would all get the chance to be tugboats a lot more often.....