What do You Know About Friendship?
Carol Harrison talks about friendship and its blessings. She believes that friendships are God-given blessings that can help us as we journey through life.
About Friendship
Friendship is one of those puzzle pieces of life that we all long for. It is a strong bond, an interpersonal relationship. Proverbs 27:9 says “A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.” What a lovely picture of friendship.
I read several anonymous quotes about friendship. One says, “Good friends are like quilts. They age with you and keep you warm.” The other quote I really liked says, “An good friend is like an old quilt – both a treasure and a comfort.” I am not a quilter but I do love the beauty and skill displayed in a quilt along with the warmth they offer.
Thinking About Friendships
Friends come in and out of our lives. Some stay for a short season and others are there for the long haul. There are different levels of friendship. Some people are acquaintances while others are, what we might consider, good friends, people we spend more time with. If we are fortunate we might have a bosom buddy – a kindred spirit as Anne Shirley in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables said of her best friend Dianna Barry.
A kindred spirit is someone whose interests or attitudes are similar to our own. They are the person we form a special connection with. In short – they get us, they have us figured out and like us anyway.
Developing Deep Friendships
When we develop one of these deep friendships, it is never lessened by the tough puzzle pieces of life nor by distance when one person ends up moving further away. Today it is easier than ever to communicate and keep in touch with people who live around the world.
Thinking About Friendships From Childhood
I grew up in an era where we depended on snail mail to keep in touch. Phone calls were very expensive and of course we did not have the technology for internet, facetime, texts and email like we have now.
I had a best friend who lived down the street from me. We played together, walked to school and sat close to each other in the rows of desks where we were arranged alphabetically. Both of our last names began with C. Our lives intertwined on an almost daily basis until we completed high school. Our interests, outside of school were now varied. I planned to go on to university and she got married.
I had other close friends from church. We lived in various parts of the city, went to different schools but our common ground was church, young peoples, girls club. I hoped to continue a close friendship with at least one of these friends as we moved into adulthood. I thought we would be close friends, kindred spirits forever. But life took us in different directions. She married sooner than I did. She and her husband attended Bible school and then pastored a church in the South Eastern part of Saskatchewan. I went to a year of Bible school in between two years of university before going teaching.
My husband and I taught in Wollaston Lake in the North Eastern part of the province. On the map we could not have been much further apart and still lived in the same province. Neither my friend nor I had very good letter writing skills and our lives became busy with children, work and keeping the house, leaving little time for letters. We made sure to get in touch at Christmas for a few years and then lost touch completely. In took many moves on our part and a few moves for them as well before we all ended up in Saskatoon. I did not realize we lived close to each other until we met at a funeral – her father’s funeral.
Friendships Built on Things in Common
It still took a year for us to follow through on meeting for coffee and the funeral for her mother but we finally did. We discovered we had many things in common, even after so many years of little contact and then none at all. We still liked the same type of books to read, liked to listen to the same style of music and with the first visit to her home, I saw we even had the same dishes.
Our youngest daughters met in school and attended youth group together, becoming best friends with each other. Our husbands enjoyed visiting and we spent great times together playing games with our girls, visiting and sharing deep things from our heart with each other. We got each other. We understood where the other person was coming from and we could count on a listening ear, a kind heart and prayers.
About Friendships Separated by Distance
They have now moved again and distance once again separates us. Yet God has blessed us with a renewed closeness – more so than when we were teens. Phone calls are inexpensive. We can pick up the phone and chat when we feel like it. She finally learned to text and we keep in touch through technology between in person visits.
Acceptance and being understood are puzzle pieces that everyone has in our lives, no matter who we are or where we live. Friendship offers both acceptance and understanding, fulfilling this puzzle piece of life need. I loved the quote I found that says, “In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips.”
Willing to be a Friend and Have a Friend
I love cookies with lots of chocolate chips in them. Even more I love a life filled with friends who know all about me and still like to hang out with me. They offer support in the tough times. They pray. We have lots of fun together. We do need to be willing to be a friend to have a friend – it can’t be a one way proposition.
Do you have a good friend, a kindred spirit, a person you can count on to be there not matter how messed up the puzzle pieces of your life are? I hope so. I feel blessed to be able to have such good friends and that God allowed a friendship I thought had been lost by time, distance and busy lives to be restored. We plan to hang on to that for it really does refresh the soul.
Do you have a friendship story you would like to share with us? Contact us, or comment below.
Carol Harrison
Listen to Carol’s program Puzzle Pieces Of Life or visit Carol’s website carolscorner.ca
Carol Harrison B.Ed is a speaker and published author with one book, Amee’s Story and stories in twelve anthologies. She is passionate about helping people of all ages and ability levels find their voice and reach their fullest potential.
She knows, through personal experience that some of life’s experiences are tougher than others. Carol encourages people that even in the twists and turns of life God’s amazing grace provides hope.
She lives in Saskatoon, SK with her husband Brian. They have four adult children and a dozen grandchildren.
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Images courtesy of:
Two Friends – DomAlberts
Handshake – un-perfkt
Two Friends Posing – rawpixel
Two Boys – White77
KAWOOLA JANET says
Wow what awonderful story is! be blessed,it is really an encouraging message to me.
Judith Wafula says
God bless you