What's a friend to you

What's a friend to you

After lunch with a friend the other day I started thinking about friendships. I probably ponder things too much and outthink myself at times, but when my mind goes that way most of the time I just go with it.
I started thinking about the things I look for in a friendship and what has made them successful or not so much. As I came to determine the qualities I look for in others it led me to examine my own life to see if the qualities I look for in others are evident in my own life. Some were definitely there, others I'm sorry to say were not. I took that as a challenge to allow God to make some changes in me and tweek a few things. It also made me very aware of how many times we have expectations of others that we don't fulfill in our own life.
I'm not a very needy person or high maintenance. I enjoy long stretches of time to myself and I prefer quality and quantity time with family over anyone else. Therefore I probably don't give a lot to others who do want more of a friendship than I require myself. I've been told before that I'm not a very good friend because I don't give a lot of my time away. I've also been told I am a good friend for whatever reason. I don't guess it matters too much either way since we can choose to be someone's friend or not (however we are called to love ALL).
What about you? What kind of friend are you? What do you look for in a friend? Do you attract high maintenance people who require all your time and attention or are you the high maintenance one? Can you pick up with a friend you haven't seen or talked to recently just like you've been together all along? For someone to be your friend, do you have to do everything together, do you have to be talking on the phone if you're not in the same room, do you give your friends room to grow and breathe? Can someone still be your friend if they don't agree with you or if they are courageous enough to speak truth to you even if it hurts a bit.
My parents have some of the same friends that they've had since their college days. I think that's awesome. They've raised kids together, been there through thick and thin for each other and even now meet almost every Friday night for dinner. Sweet. In this day of facebook some of us have hundreds of "friends". In true friendship I don't believe there can be that many. Maybe we've lost the meaning of aquaintance and friend...they are different.
Prov. 27:17...Do our friends make us sharper in our relationship to Christ or duller? More to think about...

Posted by dawn leopard at 2:55 PM


After lunch with a friend the other day I started thinking about friendships. I probably ponder things too much and outthink myself at times, but when my mind goes that way most of the time I just go with it.
I started thinking about the things I look for in a friendship and what has made them successful or not so much. As I came to determine the qualities I look for in others it led me to examine my own life to see if the qualities I look for in others are evident in my own life. Some were definitely there, others I'm sorry to say were not. I took that as a challenge to allow God to make some changes in me and tweek a few things. It also made me very aware of how many times we have expectations of others that we don't fulfill in our own life.
I'm not a very needy person or high maintenance. I enjoy long stretches of time to myself and I prefer quality and quantity time with family over anyone else. Therefore I probably don't give a lot to others who do want more of a friendship than I require myself. I've been told before that I'm not a very good friend because I don't give a lot of my time away. I've also been told I am a good friend for whatever reason. I don't guess it matters too much either way since we can choose to be someone's friend or not (however we are called to love ALL).
What about you? What kind of friend are you? What do you look for in a friend? Do you attract high maintenance people who require all your time and attention or are you the high maintenance one? Can you pick up with a friend you haven't seen or talked to recently just like you've been together all along? For someone to be your friend, do you have to do everything together, do you have to be talking on the phone if you're not in the same room, do you give your friends room to grow and breathe? Can someone still be your friend if they don't agree with you or if they are courageous enough to speak truth to you even if it hurts a bit.
My parents have some of the same friends that they've had since their college days. I think that's awesome. They've raised kids together, been there through thick and thin for each other and even now meet almost every Friday night for dinner. Sweet. In this day of facebook some of us have hundreds of "friends". In true friendship I don't believe there can be that many. Maybe we've lost the meaning of aquaintance and friend...they are different.
Prov. 27:17...Do our friends make us sharper in our relationship to Christ or duller? More to think about...

Posted by dawn leopard at 2:55 PM