I have always had a soft spot for stories that center around good friends. There is something about true friendship that is so inspiring and heart-warming. Growing up, I looked up to characters such as Frodo and Sam from the Lord of the Rings, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Harry Potter because you can just tell that there is so much love in those friendships and that they would do absolutely anything for each other.
God put so much of his heart into us, and I think that our need for fellowship and friendship is a big part of that. I love watching some of the groups of friends at my church and how they interact with each other. There is a sense of unspoken support and something surreal and otherworldly about friendships that are rooted in God.
I've been thinking about all of this lately, because I know that I am really going to miss having my amazing Christian community of friends when I leave in a few days. Last night, I was at a going-away party for one of my good friends who is also leaving for college soon and at one point, a few of the guys grabbed guitars and started playing for everyone and singing. I love the feeling that always comes when a group of friends is worshiping God together. You can just feel His presence and His desire to be close.
I've known a lot of my best friends since I was five years old. Those kind of friendships are so deep. That being said, I want to share something with all of you. I have said before that I have thought about becoming a novelist and I have actually been working a little bit on a book. This was a piece that I wrote for it a couple weeks ago and after I read it back, I realized that it completely reflected how I was feeling about my own friendships. Here it is:
"Annie looked at Tom and noticed that there was something ethereal in the way that he appeared to her at that moment. He wasn't dressed any differently than normal and his warm smile brightened up his face as usual, but something about her perception of him had changed. She realized that there was something inherently special about their friendship. When she looked at him, she saw the little boy that she had grown up with as well as the young man that now stood before her. She realized how long she had taken him for granted. Just as the sun can be depended on to rise and set daily, Tom had remained one of the few sources of normalcy and consistency in her ever-changing life. As Annie observed him, she thought of all this and smiled faintly. "No matter what happens," she thought, "we will always be bonded as friends who have shared so much life together."
And it's true. I will always be bonded with the people that I grew up with. We may not be incredibly close anymore in the years to come, but we will always have those memories of so many formative and important years together.
Just as that Randy Newman song goes - "And as the years go by, Our friendship will never die, You're going to see it's our destiny, You've got a friend in me."
So hold your special friends close. Thank God for them and pray for them, because at the end of our lives, those are the people that we will reflect upon, and we will realize that at the end of the day, those friendships were what truly mattered.
Sincerely,
Olivia
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