A few months ago I did something that I should have done years ago. I scheduled time for friendship. This seems simplistic but it really isn’t as easy as it sounds. Life gets in the way of truly living.
A close friend of mine lives one road over from me. We grew up just one road apart as well and we have been friends for forty years. We went to high school together, talked about boys when we were teens, travelled regularly, camped together (we still do), laughed, cried, complained about work, and now we are growing older together too. We know each other’s stories because we have lived them side-by-side. She is an unofficial aunt to my daughter. We are family as much as we are friends.
What a blessing it is to have a bi-weekly visit with my friend. We know each other’s likes, dislikes, and we might even know what the other person is going to say before they say it. We enjoy the same things. Either one of us can call on the other and we will be there. No questions asked.
Despite all of this, we would often go months without seeing each other. Sure, we might text, but we didn’t make the time to sit down together, relax, and just talk. We often said we should get together, but it never happened. When we finally committed to meeting regularly it quickly became clear that this was a choice we would have to continue to make and to prioritize if we wanted it to work. It is an active choice, not a one-and-done kind of thing, where we have to schedule our visits on our calendars and if something else comes up, we have to purposefully plan to meet at a different time.
I look forward to our visits and I think she does too. Having that visit is good for me. I might arrive tired, but I know I will leave mentally recharged and happy. Visiting is a purposeful choice we make, and it is beneficial to us. It wasn’t until I made the time to be with my friend that I realized what I was missing.
This reminds me that making purposeful choices in my spiritual life is beneficial too. It is not always easy, but I can choose to stop the busyness, at least for a little while, and spend quality time with God. Proverbs 18:24b describes God as “a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” To grow in friendship with someone, we need to spend time with them. Just like texting is a superficial replacement for purposefully sitting face-to-face and having a chat with a good friend, so too is paying lip service to spending time with God but then not taking the time to do it in a meaningful manner.
I need to ask myself, “If I am being truthful, do I purposefully make time regularly to spend time with God? Do I look forward to these times with joy? Is my quiet time just a routine that I do every day because I am supposed to? Am I treating God as I would treat a good friend or am I brushing off His desire for me to spend time with Him?”
The way I answer these questions is a pretty good indicator of how my friendship with God is doing.
Taking it Further:
Are you treating God as you would a close friend, or are you brushing off His desire for you to spend time with Him?