After reading this thread, I thought abt how many friends I really have. For a long time, I kind of thought I didn’t really have any significant ones, esp while I was in depression. Now, as I count my blessings one by one, I realize there are really quite a number, most esp the Lord!
My childhood neighbor and playmate is still my friend, in spite of her being busy at work and living in neighboring town. Each time we manage to see each other on the street (which is abt once a month however), you see how happy she is, asking how things are. And we manage to talk a few mins., for often neither of us could spare more than those few mins. when we meet! She could barely reply to phone msgs, however, which makes her not a very accessible friend. Friendly dates are not easy too, for she has grandkids (twins) now, which I know are a great priority here.
A high school roommate and I also wrote each other for many years after college. She managed to come over to my wedding, while I could not to hers in a province down south. She stopped writing (snail mail) after she got sick I think, and after that when electronic communication was more common, we’d do the occasional emails and text msgs. She’s of a different faith though, and while you can say we are very close, there are matters I could not discuss or share with her.
My mom is a great friend, so giving and forgiving. Being RC, there are things one cannot share with her though. She listens when we share gospel things, but being abroad often, she is so implanted in her faith. There was a point she accepted the Lord at one time, I know, but now she still calls on Mary, with her neighborhood friends. I have a sister also abroad, with whom one can exchange thots, experiences, etc., and a bro also living in Manila, but actual meetings together are now few. Again they have stayed with their RC faiths, but I can say we are still very close, both as sibs and as friends.
A few people in church can be close friends=). The music/praise team are mostly younger people, and once in a while each unburdens during our short devotions before practice. As this isn’t very much time, however, what we can share is limited. But some of them have thankfully found the rest of us worthy to hear their triumphs and struggles (hence consider us friends=), so there are times I thank God that I have friends in the making. We’ve been in this church for abt 10 yrs now, so there’s a mom or two you can be building things up w/, but as many moms’ skeds are full, not very much time for getting to know each other more or fellowships.
Ah, and an online friend or two, even on cc. Of course there are select things we can and cannot say, but whether I am a close friend to them or not, why I consider them to be! It is said friendship is a two-way thing. I can neither easily trust nor quickly build such relationships esp. with factors as distance from kids’ schools affecting interactions w/ other parents, for example. But I can also begin being a friend to others, wc in time I see are bearing fruit in terms of the friendship relationship.
It seems harder to make friends as we grow older esp when we’ve not been very friendly ourselves, some say, but it is not impossible. Let’s continue to plant seeds, and we not only gain friends, but also brothers and sisters in the Lord!