Friendship Comfort Zone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever had a friend for ages and then you just drift apart?  Or circumstances in life change and suddenly, you don’t see a friend regularly?  The loss leaves a hole, and sorrow.  The loss leaves you with time you did not have before.  The loss leaves you with the opportunity to allow God to bring new people into your orbit.  New people, whose life has also been upset and who have also experienced the same type of loss of friends as you have.

 

For many of us the restrictions placed on us by the governing authorities in an attempt to protect us from the Covid virus have had the effect of separating us from old friends and old patterns.  These actions have lead to new patterns in life, which do not always allow the same depth of interaction with some old friends.  Like a door closing, we have been forced to move on, leaving a bit of our hearts behind. 

 

That leads to the question of whether you believe if God is, indeed, in control of all things, even friendship.  Does the sovereignty of God include the realm of friends?

As much as we may claim that God rules over all aspects of life, we balk at the idea that

He could oversee something so personal and necessary as whom our friends are.  Don’t we get to choose our friends?  Does God not have bigger things to do than select the people we pal around with? 

 

Of course you and I both know that He is ruler of all things, large and small, important and unessential.  If the circumstances of life have caused some friendships to draw back, look for the new people God is bringing into your sphere.  While we may not understand what the reasons, we can still welcome the new friends.  The challenges new friends bring can lead to our growth.  The experiences of new friends can open our hearts to become more sympathetic and more joyful. 

The world is filled with people who are made in God’s image, for His purposes.  As we are forced out of our “friendship comfort zone,” receive the gift of new friends.  Friendship is an adventure, given us by God.  Let Him direct you.  And realize that you, too, are a new friend to someone.