You need your friends but it will take time:YOUR TIME
Hello Readers! Good Day!
For today's article, it is all about FRIENDSHIP. So, let's start and I hope you find it valuable and interesting.
It's easier to make friends than it is to be a friend. Making friends simply involves being nice to people you like. Being a friend, on the other hand, involves serious effort. Rather than waiting for others to make you feel better, you make it your goal to add value to their lives. That's why you can't really be a friend to very many people. It's possible to casually and superficially relate to a bunch of acquaintances at one time (kind of like working a room), but being a true friend takes time.
Being a friend is a choice. Here are four different types of friendships you could choose to be involved with. Choosing to establish these friendships will give you great fulfillment, and you will enrich the lives of others.
✅Be a disciple. A disciple is a learner. Find someone wiser and more spiritually mature than you are (hint:that person is probably older) so you can learn from him or her. Ask this person, also known as a mentor, to meet with you on a regular basis. You may want to do a Bible study together, or you may just want to talk about life.
✅Be a mentor. Even while you are being discipled, be available to teach someone else. Here's where you'll need to be patient, because a mentor doesn't usually seek out disciples. However, if you've got something to offer others and you have the time to be a friend, people will seek you out.
✅Be accountable. In this world of shifting values and vivid temptations, you need to be in an accountability group (this is especially true for men). As a group, discipline yourself to meet on a regular basis (at least once a month) to ask each other the tough questions and to discuss the tough issues.
✅Be a neighbor. When Jesus was asked to name the greatest comment, without hesitation He replied, "Love the Lord your God," and then quickly added a second commandment: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31 NLT). Loving your neighbor is more than lending tools or cups of sugars. It's care and concern for little things. It's sharing meaningful details from your own life. It's being a friend in such a way that your neighbor will see God in your life.
Friendships are like investments-you get what you put into them, and they take time to mature. But the dividends they pay are eternal.
But this FRIENDSHIPS will last if only you'll TAKE TIME.
There is one aspect of life which cannot be rushed-building a meaningful relationship with another person. You can make an acquaintance "on the spot," but a friendship won't happen instantaneously. And it doesn't develop overnight. It takes time.The most precious commodity of our "hurry up" society must be invested over the long-term if you expect to have a friendship that is dependable and fulfilling.
Growing a friendship is not unlike growing a crop. There has to be a season of planting. Time is spent in finding common interests. These initial contacts are followed by a season of growing: The friendship is nurtured beyond common interests as you begin to appreciate each other's differences which are discovered only by spending time together. As the relationship mature, you can begin a lifelong season of harvest: This is when the friendship proves to be a source of strength and encouragement to you.
We all want meaningful friendships. We desire relationships which are based on trust and loyalty, those which go beyond shallow courtesy all the way to "do anything for each other" commitments. ❤
