It had a rather sad day yesterday as I mourned the death of
a friend but just as important realized the power of friendship. I spent some
time with some old friends who I hadn’t seen probably in 10 years. Yet, what
made this so special was it like we had spoken a few days ago. How is it
possible to reconnect with someone right where you had left off? I’m also awed
at how renewing old friendships has the power to re-invigorate my life!
I sat in the middle of a fancy food court a few days ago with
a friend that I respect big time. It was incredible to be able to laugh,
reflect and share some bad news together. What touched me was that this friend
had taken the time to drive almost two hours to visit a mutual friend in the
hospital. As we sat enjoying our Gyros I realized that it was our mutual care
for a friend in the ICU that gave us an incredible lunch to catch up and care. What
struck me was that this friend is a ‘cool’ guy that I should have been more
intentional with meeting but it took a tragedy, ultimately the death of a
friend, to bring us together.
As I returned home from making a new friend meeting at a ‘hipster
coffee place’ I was alarmed at the mess one of my dogs had left me as I talked
with a younger friend going through a crisis. What struck me as I listened to
my friend was how he trusted me enough to share his heart and sorrow in life.
It reminded me of the importance of both being a friend to someone and having a
friend to listen. I seldom top my normal
life routine to grieve, cry or take a break but recent death of a friend
brought my life back to the forefront.
I confess that too often I define achievement or success in my
life by what I do each day. The difficulty is the things that I’m doing are
usually good things that see people helped or connected to people that can make
a difference. So, what happens when I stop something to focus on something
totally different? It struck me as I sent out group texts about canceling tutoring
or life group that it was teaching others about what matters or should come
first. Yes, its ok to stop, cry, yes Dave had tears and did take a breather or
break.
The bigger reminder to me was how easy it is at times to
neglect or even ignore my bestie – my wife, partner and amazing best friend. As
my Anne came home from work I noticed that she unfortunately had succumbed to
the flu bug. It would have been criminal to force her to do tutoring and just
as inconsiderate to drag her to meet with a group of old friends to grieve over
our mutual friend’s death.
Yes, I love being a friend just as much as my ego fights it
I do need FRIENDS! So, open your eyes today to renew a friendship and
potentially birth a new friendship J
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