An Underrated Blessing

As things continue to return to normal, I have been reminded that normal…is….busy! Run, run, run! Go, go, go. Some days there is barely a moment to catch your breath!

Because normal = busy, time seems to fly by. I blinked and I was graduating high school. I blinked and I was saying good-bye to my 20s. I blinked again and all 4 kids were in school. And I made the mistake of blinking again and my oldest is now almost 17 years old and when he stands up straight, he is looking me right in the eyes!

As I approach the halfway point in my life, I want to take the wisdom I have acquired, some of it which came at great cost (life’s tough lessons often don’t come cheap) and I want to apply that wisdom to the days that I have left. One of my goals for my second half is to fight twice as hard to give my time to my family. If I trade in my family time in order to be successful at work? That’s actually failure. Family must be first.

But there is an overlooked aspect of life, a blessing that God intended us to have, and with all of the things going on, it is often easily neglected. That neglected blessings is friendship. I have had this thought running through my head for a while now: “Friendship is a gift you give yourself.” Making time for friends, pursuing a quality person in friendship seems like a selfish thing to do. I feel like I almost have to give myself permission. With so much competition for time, you could feel guilty for creating some space to enjoy your friends.

Another reason we might neglect friendship is because relationships are messy. We can step on each other’s toes. We can get offended. Sometimes friendships end badly. I have had seasons where I have had walls up, because I didn’t want to get burned again. I look back on those seasons now and I wish I had taken the walls down sooner. I was missing the blessing that comes from friendship.

David in the Bible had a wonderful friend in Jonathan. David’s life was stressful! One minute King Saul wanted to hear David play his music, and the next minute, with no warning, he tried to kill David. Since he was in the service of King Saul there wasn’t much David could do about it. In this rough season of life, David found support from Jonathan, who was like a brother to him. Jonathan was a true friend.

Here are some characteristics of a true friend:

• They always tells you what you need to hear, not what you necessarily want to hear!
• They will be genuinely happy for you when blessings come your way. They won’t grumble about ‘how nothing good happens to them,’ they will celebrate their friends happiness!
• They will hang in there with you, when you need them the most, even if it is unpopular. King Saul was not pleased with his son’s loyalty to David!

In this marathon called life, it isn’t good to run alone. Prioritize godly friends, and you will enjoy the journey!

By: Matt Larson (senior pastor at journey church)