Friendship.
What does that mean?
Think about it. What makes a person a friend?
Having things in common? Going to the same school? Church? Neighbors?
Being a “friend” on Facebook? Hopefully, you know that everyone who requests to be your friend or who accepts your friendship request isn’t really your friend.
In the same way, not everyone who claims to be your friend in life isn’t your friend either.
Winnie the Pooh said, “If you live to be 100, I hope to live to be 100 minus 1 day so I never have to live without you.”
That’s a friend.
I am very selective in RL. I don't trust easily, and it is worse now that I am a Mom. I think I might rather swallow a jar of nails mixed with broken glass than allow my soon-to-be old enough daughter to spend the night at a friend's house.
ReplyDeleteIf I call you a "close friend" or a "dear friend" then I would trust you with my kids. That is a friend. Everyone else is just an acquaintance or good for a joke.
Interesting topic - I have recently been thinking about friendship. All of your introductory comments about what makes a friendship ring true. And are our groups of friends a clique or authentic relationships? I think we sometimes fool ourselves, even in the church, when really we're no different than the world. Who misses you when you're not there? And who is using you out of ambition cloaked in shallow friendship? I have found the truest friends to be those who don't have anything to gain by being my friend and who don't secretly judge or criticize while pretending to be my friend - they just like me for me. Life's too short for fake:)
ReplyDeleteI read recentlty of a word in the dictionary most of us are not aware of - "frenemy". It means someone who pretends to be your friend but is infact your enemy. This happens so often through venues such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc., (well as through other social settings). On the internet they (or even we) can peek in on a person's life even though they really do not care for them. It is deceitful... But I am certain to one degree or another, we are all guilty of it. If not on the internet, socially.
ReplyDeleteFriendship, true friendship, is a rare gem. Treasure those friendships as such if you are blessed to have them...