They take your ugly and deal with it. Somehow it remains – that you can always be yourself and you understand them and they understand you. Not always, of course, but in those times of disagreement or trouble, they remain. And it isn’t always bad – usually the ugly is just a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things. The good is something that can’t fully be expressed to perfection because after a while, it seems to just be innate because you know a person so well – what makes them tick.
Friendship has been a recurring blessing throughout my life, and more than ever, I’ve been a little overwhelmed by how much I love the people – the friends – in my life.
The old tale goes that my best childhood friend and I met in the church nursery and from that moment on, we were inseparable. She lived down the street – so whenever we had sleepovers or wanted to hang out we would always end our phone calls with “meet you halfway” and meet each other to walk to the decided home. Anything she did I wanted to do – case in point – when she was given permission to start shaving her legs, I begged my mom to let me shave mine. When she got a cute new haircut, I wanted the same. We faced our little bumps along the way, especially during our awkward middle school girl age, but today I consider her my sister. It is not often that when you are young and declare that one day you’ll be in each other’s wedding that it actually happens, but I happily get to stand behind her as she marries her fiancé this year. 25 year of friendship is unique for a 25 year old.
During then end of my junior year of high school, I became a part of a Three Musketeer friendship – we have the independent faithful one, the do-anything-for-you fashionista, and me (I guess I would dub myself as the sweet, eccentric one). Without one of them, something is always missing. We have shared pain, joy, fun, and they often remind me of C.S. Lewis’ friendship he had with JRR Tolkien and Charles Williams. I wholeheartedly dread the possibility, but can greatly understand Lewis when he writes:
In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald's [Tolkien] reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him 'to myself' now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. ... We possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases.
College: Well, I lived in a 1-bathroom house with 7 other girls. Once you sit on the toilet while one is in the shower and another is brushing her teeth, you can call yourselves intimate. This house, The Pea Pod, produced so much in my life. Taught me to love, to speak truth, to get out of my shy rut and be a schmidge weird, to be open and transparent. My Peas will always be close in my heart.
I have all these beautiful friendships and you would think that this would be enough – that I couldn’t possible need anymore, but God is big on love, and there are many to love. He is funny and works in crazy ways – even to the point that he brought an old high school friend back into my life – She always inspired me with her wit and was the one high school friend I often thought about as we moved on – wondered how she was doing. Random circumstances led me into her small group through church, and we so easily picked up our insanity and throw in some grown-up conversation too. Through that friendship, I met one of her college roommates, who now is also a crazy awesome friend who has brought fun, faith, her dog, and an added bonus to my life. Ah! I’m exploding with friendship!
Why am I so blessed to have all of these friendships? I don’t think it is because I’m cool because they are way cooler than me. I don’t think I’ll ever really wrap my brain around the quality and abundance of my friends, but I do know that I am thankful beyond reason. Truly – I have no reason to have all of these people in my life, but I do and they bring me pure joy.
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