True Friends

I enjoy the blessing of email and social networking sites such as Facebook because I am finding it easier to maintain and renew many of my friendships by a virtual means. I am a military brat and I have traveled most of my life moving every few years. Because of this, I have friends in many locations around the globe. I am not sure how true friendships emerge but I do believe that they are a gift from God. Having a true friend requires a certain oneness of mind, purpose, and a nobility of character. Real friendships require both friends to understand the “heart and soul” of the other, and to celebrate what they see, not because they are blinded to each other’s imperfections, but because they see all things through the eyes of friendship and love.

I truly believe that people are in our lives “for a reason, a season, or a lifetime”. Lifetime friendships are the strongest ones and often occur because of shared experiences born out of real opportunities, adventures, and challenges. Often when I look back on a solid friendship, there is a beautiful mystery attached to the origins of it. These friendships were not forced or fabricated, but my life was always the better for them. As we age, our lives undergo many changes and not all of our friendships survive. I have found it normal for a few friendships to fall by the wayside for no obvious reason. Sometimes our priorities shift or we simply grow apart. Friends that are in your life for a “reason or a season” are not any less significant because they are often just as intense and meaningful but only for a shorter time. Like any marriage, relationship, or career, they too require work, thought, and realistic expectations in order to maintain them during periods of ebb and flow.

True friendships leave footprints everywhere in your life, like mud tracked in on a light colored carpet. Nurture your friendships through shared intimacy and reciprocity knowing that they can be rich, life affirming, joyful but also complicated at times. True friends are a unique treasure that wealth cannot buy and power cannot hold. Their transformative power is essential because life is better together – with real friends.