This is a little thought about a sensitive issue….friendships.

Once a friend, always a friend?

Acknowledging that friendships do change means disloyalty?

“Often when life journeys us through various seasons, our relationships change with them.”

Many of us, if we are honest, have lost friendships or have noticed a significant distance in a relationship at one or two points in our life. As a person who places serious value relationships, this is a fact that troubles me deeply.

“Changes in friendship can affect us deeply.”

I have taken it as a personal weakness or failure if a friendship has gone to the wayside for one reason or other…I have grieved over this loss many a time in my 4 decades of living.

As with a marriage, it takes two for a friendship to be maintained. It takes commitment. It takes honesty. It takes quality time spent together. It takes a common denominator to hold it together….

But, as seasons change so do we…so what had once held us together may no longer be a factor anymore…and unlike marriage, we are not bound to a covenant to bind us forever together.

“Life experiences provoke personal growth and shift relationships to significant matters of life.”

“So although some friendships change for a season, they can sometimes return and be more fruitful.”

I figure that if I accept the relationship for what it was and what it is- nothing more or less, a real honest evaluation of it- the easier time I have in letting it go to God and trust He will restore it if needed, mend it if required, and return it if His will.

I try to not shut a door in anger on a friendship but instead resolve in my heart whatever hurts or misconceptions I may have carried toward it with the Lord if a season of distance is occurring.

I find if I choose to be thankful for what once was in that friendship, then I can also be grateful for what is, and therefore hopeful for what will be….whether with them or with whomever God sends my way next.

If He brought me such treasures in the package of friends at such specific times in my life, I can trust He will continue to do so.

Thanks to ” The 365 Most Important Bible Passages for Mothers”.

Read more about friendships in Acts 15 about Paul, Barnabas, John Mark, and Silas.

I once learned that we are like Paul…we all need a Barnabas ( a mentor), a Timothy (someone to mentor), and a Silas ( someone to walk like with).

If we properly categorize our relationships perhaps when a season changes we won’t be as surprised due to the nature of the role we had with them. Some may not need to be mentored forever….and you may require a different person to mentor you depending on what you are currently experiencing as well.

Just a thought.