Happy Teens (DollarPhotoClub.com)
I love the saying, “People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” As the Christmas season gives way to Valentine’s Day and Lent approaches, how do we relate to our friends?
New people
During this season, new people bump into our lives, some of them for a specific reason. Usually, the reason doesn’t become clear immediately, perhaps only in the rear-view mirror of time. Often only the Lord knows the reason he puts new friends within our circle of influence.
So pray about the new people in your life. Ask the Lord to guide you in sorting out where they belong in your life—whether it is a neighbor you barely know, a co-worker you tolerate or a newcomer to a ministry where you serve.
As our extended family, friends deserve our time, attention and love because of our relationships. And like our family, some of them seek us out for a reason, such as their need or ours to rejoice or cry together, to support each other spiritually or emotionally. Some are intimately involved in our life for a season, such as in a pastoral relationship, ministry, carpool or career.
Dearer than family
Some grow dearer to us than family, and we find we need their friendship for a lifetime. They may grow in number each year as we recognize our need to hold them close in our hearts. When we see them or talk to them, after a month or a year apart, no barriers exist to intimate sharing.
As we worship and pray, work and play together in the new year, wherever the Lord may take us, may we draw ever nearer to him and thus to one another — for a lifetime and into eternity.
What new and old relationships need nurturing, and a special place in your life this season?
© 2017 Nancy HC Ward
Nancy Ward
Nancy HC Ward, author of Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story, was once a shy convert. She has spent decades writing about conversion, Christian community, and the Catholic faith. After earning a journalism degree, she worked for many years for the Texas Catholic (newspaper of the Diocese of Dallas) and the Archbishop Sheen Center for Evangelization, and later began her own editing service. An active member of the Catholic Writers Guild and a regular contributor to a number of high-profile Catholic publications online, she also has a busy blog on spirituality called Joy Alive.net. She’s a contributing author to The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion. Now, through her Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story workshops, retreats, book, and DVD, she shares her conversion story at Catholic parishes and conferences, equipping others to share their own stories.
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