Make New Friends...

The other day I found myself singing a little short song I heard from I don't remember where.  Maybe you've heard of it, "Make new friends, but keep the old- one is silver and the other gold."  This little saying sums up perfectly how we should view friendships and approach life always looking to make new friends.

I have been blessed to meet and make many friends in my lifetime, as probably have you.  However, I am always on the lookout for someone new that I can befriend.  Recently I was able to do so with someone in my church that I previously had not had much close interaction with.  I had seen him and known him from being at church, but hadn't really ever said more than, "Hello", to him.  I was able to spend some time with this person and buy him dinner, and get to know him a lot better.  I made a new friend.

The wonderful thing about making new friends is that you don't have to replace the old ones.  

Whenever you enter into a new friendship, you do not have to terminate an existing one.  Your pool of friends can grow and grow!  This is reflected in the body of believers.  As many people that want to, come to Christ and find that He accepts them when they place their faith in Him.  Christ doesn't unfriend someone each time a new person comes to Him.  Neither should we forget about the friends that we have had for a long time.

Treasure those friends that have known you for years and years.  These are the people that probably know you best, and given that fact it is amazing that they remain to be your friend!  They are comfortable with all your quirks and eccentricities.  They value you for....you.  Their gift of friendship to you is priceless and cannot be overvalued.  Likewise, cultivate your newer friendship so that they too will grow into the kind of deep, abiding relationships you share with your long-time friends.  

Be a friend, above all, and do not seek to only have people be friendly to you.  Go out of your way to befriend someone that cannot reciprocate the things you are able to do for them.  Find someone that cannot give back to you of their resources and be a financial blessing to them.  Find someone that cannot intellectually better you and be a teacher or mentor to them.  Find someone whose time is constrained and offer to do things for them.  Seek to be a blessing.  Actively pursue to surprise those you love with acts of "unprovoked friendship".  Random notes, letters, phone calls, or gifts from a friend could be the thing that lifts someone's spirit in a time of upheaval and personal crisis.  A kind deed or word could be the diamond among the rough of someone's day.

Make new friends and you will never be lonely.  Keep the old friends and you will always feel loved.  If you brighten the corner where you are, then everybody benefits.  To be a friend is to be a blessing.  To have a friend is to be blessed.  Have both to enjoy a life filled with the blessings that only come from loving and being loved.