If you had told me 10 years ago that a few of my friends would consist of a young, professional pianist who is fascinated with place, a girl who looks like she should be a full-blooded American, a pen pal in France with whom my common language is not English but rather Spanish and a Brazilian turned Spaniard who tries to imitate Phil Wickham whenever he sings Christian worship music, I would’ve laughed in your face and called you crazy. I was practically the shyest girl in school. There’s no way I’d have the courage to approach those people, even if they did sound really cool.
Well, fast forward to today and guess what? Those people listed above are very good friends of mine. On the contrary, that list just scratches the surface of some incredible people I have gotten to know over the last 10+ years. These friendships were not of my own doing but rather God orchestrating when and where our paths will cross. You may be surprised how you meet the people you meet in life. Sometimes you bump into them at school or at the neighborhood park. Other times you have go thousands of miles away from home before you meet your best friend. What’s more is this: think of all of the couples you’ve talked to and asked how they met. Usually they tell you about some crazy chance encounter they had with each other and how, if they hadn’t met that way, they never would have met at all. It couldn’t have been chance, could it?
At times I get tired of hearing the phrase, “everything happens for a reason.” But, just when I am about to lose faith in that phrase, my faith is renewed. I was supposed to graduate HS and then college in the years that I did (and so did-or will-you). I was supposed to be in Spain three years ago, taking the classes I took, traveling where I did, meeting the people I met. Even the ones I just talked to in classes or in the halls. It’s all connected. I can’t see where all of the dots connect yet but I will someday. It will be such an awesome experience when I can do that. What I have been constantly amazed at over the years is how I have managed to keep my closest friends by my side, even when we are separated by highways, interstates, state lines, forests, mountains, a gigantic ocean… The best kinds of friends are the ones where you can go months on end without seeing each other and then one day, reunite and pick up wherever it was that you left off at. They don’t keep score of who stayed in better contact or who wrote the most letters or messages to the other or made the most phone calls….they simply just care about you. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
I hope, as you are reading this post, that you have the kinds of friends I described above. The ones who love you know matter what, give you clear advice and enhance your life in a positive way. If you find yourself taking your friends for granted, think of how miserable your life would be today if you had never met them in the first place.
That really changes your perspective, doesn’t it?
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