Reaching out…
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you. Paramashansa Yogananda
When I first moved to Nevada more than a decade ago, I knew a few people from a ministry that I had been involved in for years. Of that group, only one initially reached out to get together. She had lived in northern Nevada her whole life and was well established with family, friends, and work. She didn’t need another friendship, yet she reached out anyway and made moving into a new area seem more welcoming to me.
In the years since, I have met many people new to the area too, whom I have reached out to in friendship. We’ve met in a variety of circumstances as I try to never limit the chances of what even appears to be an unlikely friendship. Some of the friendships were like sparklers on 4th of July; very fun right in the beginning, but the friendships fizzled out due to a variety of life circumstances. Some have become casual friends; we get together every so often, but it’s not a tight “like-family” friendship. Then, there are those friendships that flourish and grow richer and more beautiful with every passing year.
My friend who initially reached out when I first moved here didn’t have to add another relationship to her life, but she stepped out anyway. Now, years later, she is one of my closest friends and vice versa. We both live busy lives and never get to see each other as often as we would like but we make sure to connect regularly. Over the years we have shared some very difficult things but we’ve also shared some wonderful, celebratory things. We’ve shared life deeply and have built a whole cadre of memories throughout our lives this last decade plus. Her friendship is always a good reminder to me to keep reaching out to people because our lives are made so much richer by friends that God places in our lives…and we never know who could be another “bestie”! I thank God that my friend reached out to me!