Of Follies and Friendship

Friendship is a tricky thing.  And, instead of getting easier, it seems to get harder as I get older.  I may no longer be on the playground, trying to find someone to play foursquare with, but the delicate balance in friendship is still much the same.  Sometimes there is no one there to play with, and sometimes I have an abundance of friends.  This week I have been thinking about friendships a lot as I feel like some of mine are once again in transition.  As friendship grow and change, there is one constant - our need to communicate with each other and to have a common life experience.


I will be the first to admit that sometimes I am not the world's best friend.  Sometimes I'm selfish.  Sometimes I'm needy.  Sometimes I get angry.  Sometimes I am impatient. Sometimes I don't give as much as I should.  Sometimes I don't tell people how I really feel.

Despite all that, though, I try, hard, to be a good friend.  I try to put others before myself and to accept that I am not always going to be the most important (or even remotely important) person in any one friend's life.  I accept that the older we get, the busier we get and sometimes the best we can do is a quick phone call or text message.  I try to be quick to forgive and to not hold grudges against anyone when I feel like I've been wronged.

Friendships are a different part of God's personality - that love that is not romantic, but runs deep.  It is his passion for community lived out amongst people who He brings together for a specific purpose.  And, because of that, I am starting to realize how important friendships are to my emotional health and my general outlook on the world.  The girl times I do get are precious to me, and I take them seriously.  Not that the time itself has to be serious, but just that I know any time spent with me is time not spent with a husband/boyfriend/friend/child/pet/co-worker.  When people take the time to hang out with me, I really appreciate it, even when I don't do a good job of communicating that to the girls in my life.  So, to Beth and Wanda and Ashley, who all took times out of their week this week to hang out with me, thank you so much!  Those few hours talking, eating, watching a movie...those were precious moments in a busy week and I needed them so much.