WHY DO WE NEED FRIENDS?

WHY DO WE NEED FRIENDS?

Your answer may be that you don't need friends, you are fine just the way you are. Well let me share the value of friendship.

The following verse is often used to show Christians the importance of going to church. Hebrews 10:25 "Do not stop meeting with other believers....but exhort and encourage each other." Yes, I agree that we should go to church. But not to just receive (listen to the sermon) but to give. We can give by serving in some capacity in the church. We can give by sitting next to a visitor and making them feel welcome. We can give by telling the teachers and pastors how their teaching is making a difference in our faith walk. So church is important and it is a way to make friendships with other Christians. But it is limited by time and we often stay on a superficial level just saying hi and bye.

Friendships take time. But the dividends received are well worth the time spent. We can share our joys and our sorrows, our successes and our failures. We can give support and receive support. How can we bear each others burden as we are commanded to if we don't spend time with people.

I'm just going to share a few of the times that I've shared with Christian friends lately to give you an idea of all the possibilities.

1. A Christmas party with the Legacy Fellowship Group
2. A white elephant gift exchange with our home group and playing Christmas carol charades.
3. Spending New Year's Eve with the Gluffs and Joanna and praying in the New Year after playing Phase 10 and sharing yummy snacks.
4. Dinner with the Clarks and Gluffs at Texas Road House and learning how to play hand and foot. Hand & foot is a card game not to be confused with the disease that sounds similar. It also does not require taking your shoes off.
5. Talking on the phone with my friend, Lynn. She only lives two doors down and can tell me when my someone is about to slide into my mailbox on the icy roads. It has happened four times. My husband fixes it over and over. Our poor mailbox leans a little to the left and looks battered but the mailman still puts the mail in.
6. Shopping with Jackie Willits. You can even spend time together exchanging Christmas presents and walking around the mall.
7. Dinner with Bob & Sherri and Max and Donna reminiscing about Mary who went home to be with Jesus this year and catching up on each others' lives. Family can be friends too! Ours is.

So I hope you all look for opportunities to spend time with people, growing your relationships and building friendships. It's fun and burns more calories than staying home watching TV.

Pat