Lasting Friendships

I remember a conversation I had with mom years ago about friendships. She was giving me advice and trying to prepare me for what life looks like the longer you live. As a pastors wife, she had seen her share of friends who who had come and gone and at this stage in her life, there were very few who were still around any longer.

I remember thinking to myself… I don’t want it to be like that for me.

As a little girl, friendships were always very complicated. I never knew who really liked me and I was always trying to see where I fit in. I’m pretty sure this is the way it goes for every little girl because we all know with girls that… there can never just be a party of 3.

And why is that?

I was homeschooled during my elementary years so the only friends I had were either neighbor girls or girls from our small church. I didn’t really get introduced to other types of friends until I started 6th grade and that’s when things got really confusing. I think I had high expectations of what new opportunities were being opened up for me at FCS.

The story goes on much of the same way as my years in school came to an end and sadly, I just never knew where I belonged. I didn’t stand out in any one category and that left me feeling very alone.

When my young adult years came, I experienced friendships through work, church, and college. All of them bringing a deeper connection and restoring what I knew friendships could offer me.

As the years have flown by, I am now realizing why mom is content with her life the way it is. It’s not that she doesn’t need friends any longer, its that she’s been blessed with the gift of understanding what a friend brings into your life.

It’s the opportunity to love and be loved and you can do that with anyone you meet. You don’t need to hang out weekly, tell all of your secrets, and have all things in common in order to be friends with someone. You can just be there for them, pray with them, cheer them on, and point them to Jesus and enjoy the gift of them being brought into your life in the season that they were.

Cheers to all the amazing women God has sent me over the years to call friend. I’m grateful for each one of you!