There is nothing like a good friend.
She is like a warm coat on a windy day, an easy pair of jeans when you have eaten a little too much or a big pair of gumboots when the weather has turned grey.
She is warm.
She is comfy.
She protects.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about friendship. Actually I think about friendship all the time, it is really important value that my husband and I hold dear, but lately I have been thinking about it more often than normal. The reason I have been thinking about it, is despite the shifts and changes in my season, I am determined to carry on being a good friend.
It takes effort to be a friend. To ring, to visit, to forgive, to hold lightly, to speak, to listen.
Charl and I were talking just yesterday in fact about something we want to do in the coming years and who we would want to do it with. It was a great conversation. We talked about who our closest friends were, we talked about who impacted us the most, who we respected.
We walked and talked for a good hour about friendship and how important it is to us.
How easy is it to lose sight of good friends?
It’s like our ship sails into a new season and our friends are kind of waiting on the shore doing their thing and we lose sight of them.
Some friendships and seasons change. In fact a lot do, but sometimes we need to make effort and priority to spend time with those people who are our comfy pair of jeans.
The ones that we could be at our very worst and they see us at our best. The ones whose voice we hear over the loud internal noise in our days. Wisdom is gained in company.
Proverbs 25: 11 says it this way;
Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.
or this one from proverb 24: 26
An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship
Friends are the greatest gift in seasons of change and transition and we are never too old to make another friend.
The best way to make a friend is to start a conversation and to ask them out for coffee. The best way to keep a friend is to forgive an offence and be generous with your words and life. The best way to have many friends is to keep growing and moving, holding your words and their time preciously.
The wisest of women spend their life in company of many different women, of all different ages, opinions, experiences and religions.
Proverbs 13: 20 also says this;
He who walks with the wise grows wise.
Friendship is the greatest proving ground for wisdom.
In this age of online, quick, nasty, debating, quick to unfriend culture, let’s make sure that we hold our friends closely and listen to their hearts for the future.
Friendship is the greatest of gifts.
It enriches our days, sharpening our acceptance of difference and makes us much deeper humans.
Make friends with someone who is very different to you.
It will usher wisdom into your days.
Tomorrows post: She faces her pain
