Skip to main content

Friendship: Reality or Virtual Reality?

I have all kinds of friends on all kinds of levels.  I see them as serving different purposes... believing that God put them in my life for different reasons and different seasons.  Likewise, I am in theirs for a reason, and, perhaps, for only a season.

 I believe God did some of His best creative work when He created friendship.  Not just so we can have somebody to refer to as "my friend"... and if we want to "gain some points," so to speak, we refer to them as my "long-time friend"... and of course all of that is relative.  I may have known someone for a year and feel like I've known them all my life.  I'm thinking right now of someone I've only known, really known, for a few months, and yet, I honestly consider them a "dear friend."

 Of course, there are folks with whom I've been acquainted most of my life... am tickled to see them, hope to see them again, but I can honestly say that life's circumstances haven't called for a close relationship with them on a regular basis.  We wouldn't likely sit down and bare our souls to each other, but we would enjoy talking, remembering, and being glad to be in each other's company. We're important to each other.  This is good!

 All of our acquaintances/friends are important.  Let's just be careful to accept them for what they are... realistically.  Probably, if we've only seen a person on Facebook, they aren't our best friend.  Best friends are the people we call when we're sick and in need of help and comfort.  It is important to remember the boundary between reality (people, things, experiences we physically touch, feel, spend time with, etc.) and virtual reality (persona, images, words on a page used to portray an idealized verson of things and people).

 Let's not allow social media to blur the differences in our relationship roles.  Instead, let's celebrate, with clarity, all those God has allowed to be a part of our little worlds, and thank Him for the opportunity to affect others, however that turns out to be.  Afterall, if we find that we're forcing the issue in a perceived relationship, with little or no reciprocation from the other person, chances are pretty great that we've missed God's mark for that person's role in our life.  That frustration can turn to obsession which in turn becomes idolatry, but that's a topic for another day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From here to there

A lot of you are familiar with or at least know of my only niece, Scarlett (or Sweet Scarlett, as I often refer to her). A brilliant gal in the prime of her life and career was involved in a horrible car accident at the age of 36, leaving her with a severe brain injury. God has brought her so far….so many accomplishments that she wasn’t “supposed” to ever achieve. A couple of years ago while she was going through a particularly hard struggle, she said to me, “Aunt Ann, I know I’m gonna make it, but right now I’m in that in between place”. I knew exactly what she was saying…and I’d imagine you do, too, right? We believe that God’s gonna walk with us and get us to the other side…however, sometimes it just seems like a longggggg way from here to there, doesn’t it? We’re gonna make it..but there are times we sure do need a hand to hold or place to rest on the journey….’cause we aren’t “there” yet…and we need to hear from somebody, who actually cares where we are struggling, that w...
6 comments
Read more

Faith Giving

My parents taught me about being quick to give but to use good judgment and wisdom in who to give to and making sure I give for the right reasons. I’ve been truly blessed these past few days by true givers.  Typically January is a slow month for traveling ministries like Downing Ministries.  This month has been especially challenging in that one weekend had only one booking and this past weekend just didn’t book at all.  Having seen the major snowstorm that blew through late last week, we wouldn’t likely have been able to fulfill dates if they had scheduled.  I’ve been hesitant to do a “plea” as such for help, somehow feeling that God had this and could work far better than I could.  I want to report, as I do the happy dance, that “giving folks” have started doing just that…GIVING out of their hearts to Downing Ministries.  To make the happy dance last longer, let me say that most of these gifts are from some folks I KNOW don’t have it to give in ...
6 comments
Read more

No Matter What

Several years ago a friend shared with me that his route to work every day took him through a toll booth....and he tried to always choose a certain booth. This is because the gentleman manning that booth was an elderly man who always had something "bright and sunny" to say to him. Every morning my friend would hear "Have a good day, no matter what!" Now, there were days my friend drove up to that toll booth with zillions of questions in his head of how he was gonna make it through a challenging day that was always before him when he arrived at his workplace. But he just kept those words in his head...and heart..."Have a good day, no matter what". Now, that's a choice, isn't it? "No matter what"???? I don't know about you, but I honestly don't find that coming naturally to me...it's a struggle to find sunshine on those cloudy, dreary mornings...'cause it just doesn't show up in my eyesight. But, that's w...
3 comments
Read more