Friends

                                    Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.  Proverbs 13:20

 “I thanked God every day for my food, I never thought to thank Him that I could eat it.” This is what an old friend who had had a tracheotomy and could no longer eat solid foods, said to us about years of taking for granted the ability to eat his food.

Today I got into a conversation with another woman about friendships. We talked about the kind of dependencies we develop on others, the kind of interaction, whether spiritual or superficial, and the kind of spoken or unspoken covenants we form. I left that conversation a little unsettled about how much I actually invest in my own friendships.

I have been blessed with several women who are faithful friends in spite of the fact that I am inconsistent with my contact. I have old friends that I see regularly – but not frequently. We often talk about how comfortable that is for all of us. We go way back – first and second grade. There are no explanations necessary for the way we think, we knew each other’s parents and what took place in each of our homes.

I have a college roommate that I consider very close but we are coming off of years of raising kids and growing businesses. We rarely see each other but love opportunities to talk on the phone. I feel like I have spent an hour with a therapist when she calls – all my problems disappear!

Then, there are my friends who are near, physically and spiritually. I am grateful for these women who will hear me out when I am trying to make a decision or mourning a loss – not that the others wouldn’t do these things, they just aren’t here to do them. God has provided a few Christian sisters who are wise and so, as the Proverb says, I am wiser from having been in their company. Proverbs 27:9 says that the sweetness of a friend comes from his (in my case “her”) earnest counsel.

Today I realized that I don’t know if my friends would know how grateful I am for each one of them. I am not a “gushy girlfriend” kind of person. Though I don’t expect to change that, I want to be grateful to God for each of these women He has placed in my life and I’d love to find a way to show them, individually, how much each one means to me.

When I left the conversation today I felt like our old friend. I have often thanked God for my friends. I have rarely or never thanked Him for the wisdom and grace they have extended to me. I don’t want to take them for granted.

Are you, too, thankful to God for your friends?  Do you have any suggestions for letting them know how much they mean to us?