Thursday, January 5, 2017

Friends can become the only family members you were able to choose.

January 2, 2017

Be thankful for good friends….friendships that cross miles, that last throughout years, that last throughout hardships, pains and trials. Be thankful for friendships that are blessings. Be thankful for friends you can share both the happiest and saddest of times with. Friends that you can laugh, cry, and delight with.

Don't focus on the number of friends you have. Don't focus on how far away your friends are from you. Don't focus on where you might be in a few years. Focus on the quality of the friendships you have, on the time you have with them no matter where or how long it may be. Focus on the joy and love that they provide and that you give back. Sure it might be easy if they were right next door. It might even be nice if you had so many that the door wouldn't stay closed, but most of them would be superficial. Most of them would only care about what they get out of it. Relationships aren't meant for that. Friendships were created to be mutual. Friends were created to be a companion, to help carry heavy burdens, to help celebrate happy occasions. You weren't created to do life alone, but with others. You were created to love others and to bless others. Be thankful for old friends that became family and that you know you can call on for anything. Be thankful for new friends that you meet along the way. Be thankful for friendships you had in the past that guided and helped you through certain situations and chapters in your life. They may not have been the lifelong friendships you thought or hoped they would be, but they were what you needed and when you needed them. Just like God opens and closes doors and windows He brings people in and out of your life. Only a select few are designed to make the whole journey with you side by side. Some of them are able to watch from a distance even cheering you on and you don't even know it.

God has plans. He knows who you need. He knows what you need. He knows how you need things. Sometimes in life you're in the middle of a party surrounded by so many people you can barely remember all the names and sometimes you sit quietly with 1 or 2 key players by your side. It comes in phases, in chapters, and sometimes your playbill isn't exactly what you had thought. Sometimes the show goes of course, lines are forgotten, people miss their cues, audiences leave, and sometimes actors feel alone and broken even when they are completely surrounded in the limelight. It's okay to ask questions, to wish things were different, but it's not okay to take your people for granted. When you whine about how bad you have it, how lonely life can be and how you wish you had someone to talk to you are telling your people, your friends, your family and even God that they aren't enough...that you need more, you need better and that they are inadequate. Be careful what you wish for and who you pick to be on your team. Life doesn't always allow trades. Life does not always allow relief pitchers. Life can be messy and it can't be dirty, but it's worth it and so are the people God put on your team no matter how big or small your roster is.


Just be thankful. Just be happy. Don't whine about things that are over, be happy that they happened. Be happy about the people that you have right next to you, cheering you on, lifting you up and helping you grow. Don't focus on numbers, but on the quality of the friendships you have. Most importantly be thankful God doesn't make you do life alone. No matter what is going on you will always have at least one friend and He is the bestest of friends. He puts all other friends to shame. His name is Jesus. He died for you and He wants nothing more than for you to love Him, to be his companion, to lean on him in the good and bad times, and to do life with Him as your guide. Any other friends you have are icing on the cake and people that you shouldn't take for granted. They are the people that have been chosen to experience every part of your life with you, for a chosen amount of time, but not for just one thing, but for it all… pain, sorrrow and joys. Let your heart sing for God is truly good, life is good, friends are blessings and love is definitely worth sharing.

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