Friends

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matt 18:20 NAB Revised)

When I was a Girl Scout one of the first songs I remember learning went something like this; “Make new friends and keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold.”

One of the essentials of leading a positive lifestyle is to stay surrounded by positive friends.  It is equally true when struggling to follow a Christian lifestyle.  Like-minded friends can be critical in helping you over the rough spots in life.  

A group of women and I meet weekly to discuss how our spiritual lives are proceeding.  The five of us range in age from late forties to seventy.  Several of us are married, and several are single.  We share the important parts of our week; our prayer lives, our inspirational reading, our Christian example to others and any special moments when we have experienced closeness to the Lord.  Without these friends I would not have gotten through several hard places in my life.  Among other things they saw me through the terminal illness and death of my mother and a brief illness of mine that kept me flat on my back for a month.  It was through their cards, coming to visit and most of all their prayers that gave me the strength I needed.

Michele is a relatively new friend in my world.  She and I are graduate students in Theology at Spring Hill College.  Without the encouragement of my “old” friends I would not have met Michele.  After all who would think a grandmother at age 62 at the time (me) would go back to pursue a graduate degree. 

I welcome both my old and new friends to this blog that Michele and I are working on.