Sermonette: Friendship

If anyone knows anything about the military than you know that military families tend to move a lot. My dad was career army and as a result we moved a lot. If I remember correctly, I attended 10 schools in 12 years. After high school I found myself feeling the itch to move every couple of years. I met my wife Charleen at Trinity Bible College in Ellendale, N.D., where we both attended. She was raised on a farm north of Grace City and had only moved once in her life. I used to want to move from place to place because I enjoyed meeting new people and discovering new places. But the downside to moving so much is that it is difficult to develop deep, quality friendships. The kind of friendships that only develop over time. The kind of friends that are there to rejoice when you rejoice and hurt when you hurt.

At the beginning of last year my wife and I decided to become more intentional about forming deeper friendships. We’ve always enjoyed spending time with people and developing friendships but found that because of everyone’s busy schedules it can become easy to say, “we should plan to get together sometime.” Anyone else ever notice that unless you plan in the moment that “sometime” never happens?

Well I’m glad we chose to be more intentional about pursuing new friendships and strengthening the ones we already had because without those friendships I’m not sure how we would have processed what was ahead. Last year we faced an unexpected change that was very difficult to face. But I am glad for the friends that helped us through that time. We appreciated the people who let us know they were praying for us. We were grateful for those who would send timely cards or texts. We enjoyed the nights that people welcomed us into their homes to share a meal and play games. I know that our friends helped us through a difficult season and I’m looking forward to someday returning the favor.

See, being a friend isn’t tough but it does take effort. It takes being willing to allow people into our bubble. Not everyone needs the same amount of friends. My wife is more introverted than I am and therefore can only handle so much people time. Me… I’m extroverted and I recharge by being around people. We’ve learned to balance both personality types and you will have to figure out what works best for you. But I do encourage you… make the time for others. Maybe you don’t need it now but maybe they do.

I’ll end by sharing a couple verses that speak to friendships from the Bible.

Hebrews 10:24 (NLT) “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”

Galatians 6:2 (NLT) “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”

Proverbs 18:24a (NKJV) “A man who has friends must himself be friendly,”