Friendship

Before you continue reading, think about the friendships that you've had in your life; from early childhood to present day. How many of them are the same? How often did those friendships change over the years? Did they change regularly or was it spuratic(as in during times of change...ie...high school, college, 20's)? Or did they change at all?

These are the questions that have been going through my head lately as I've thought about my current friendships; where they are at and where they are going. Looking back over the years, I do not have a single friendship still standing from say about 1995! I know, I'm aging myself with that last statement, but its true so I'm A-OK with it! =)

Seriously though, I am no longer friends with anyone from my early childhood(4-14years), and have only recently been in touch again with a friend from high school(14-18years), which has been great to hear where she is and what she's doing. There are a few others from these year who I hear about spuratically once a year or so. Moving onto the college years(18-21), there are 2 people I'm in touch with more regularly now(my 2 fav. people from college, I must admit).

Where am I going with this all? Good question! I don't fully know. After my college years, I became a bit of a social butterfly, wanting to have as many 'friends' as possible and doing my best to be everywhere at all times. That lasted a couple of years until I really grew up and realized that these 'friends' weren't really the ones who would be there through it all. What I do know is that currently, I have a handful of really good friends(from Vancouver to Toronto and beyond) and I am extremely happy with that. This has all come about this week as I've wondered about one friendship in particular. Is it as strong as I have thought it is? Or am I putting in a lot of effort only to be an annoyance in the end and not feel the same effort in return...I still don't know the answer in regards to this particular friendship. I won't give any more specifics, but you could pray and if the Lord says anything to you, feel free to pass it along.

Over the years(especially this past year) I have learnt that it is super important to be honest with your friends about everything. Its also important for me to keep God as the centre of all my friendships. That doesn't necessarily mean that all of my friends are Christians. What it does mean is that I spend as much time possible praying for them and their salvation and lives as possible.

I have mentioned before that I live with 16 people. I consider all of these people my friends, though only one...hmmm, maybe two...know almost everything about me. Soon I am going to move into a place where there may not be as many 'peers' surrounding me. Where I am going to have to rely soley on the Lord to battle any lonliness that may come about. I'm ready for that.

Jesus had 12 disciples that travelled with him. While I won't have people travelling with me to my exact location, I know that there are those out there whose shoulders I am standing on and am counting on for prayer, and regular contact(via blog, e-mail, phone). Praise the Lord that there are so many ways to communicate these days(although I still think that the internet causes more evil than good sometimes!). Its so exciting to know of the spiritual back-up that I've got out there, even separated by miles. Miles don't matter one bit when it comes to prayer and loving each other!!! That's amazing!!!! =)

So for you, my friends out there, who read this and comment(and those who don't) - I love you all deeply. I pray for you by name regularly and am happy to call you brothers, sisters and friends. I am a blessed woman, truly. And a long winded one!!!!!

Blessings.