I wish to talk to you today about making friends. Friends you never knew could have existed but friends who may be with you for the rest of your lives or even just friends that are there to be with you for a short time when you may need them most
During your day how many people did you walk past? I bet you’re going to underestimate… after all, why would you take notice of them, you are probably busy getting on with the business of the day and that is a perfectly reasonable frame of mind to be in. But how much might you miss?
How many people will walk by you that are thinking the same things? Having the same troubles, the same doubts and the same questions? But let us not focus solely on the negative, how many of these people share your hobbies and your interests, your joys and your hopes?
We each have a story and when it comes down to it are we all that much different? We have to work, we have relationship hiccups, we get tired, we watch tv or go on our computers, we meet up with friends talk with our families and we all just try to make our way through life as best we think we can
Recently I met some people who I had never even thought about meeting. Not those particular people of course, but that ‘type’ of person as it were… And how well we got on with each other! We sat chatting for several hours and it was a wonderful experience
They had had their issues and their experiences, good and bad both, and they broke many of the expectations I had initially had about them. It was simply an enjoyable experience to sit down and talk
Have you found yourself in a similar position? Have you ever been somewhere and just started talking with someone? Maybe they made an offhand comment about something and you said “Yeah absolutely!” or “You are joking right?!”
That’s generally how lasting conversations are had, not when you make idle chatter about how they’ve been, lest you be offering counsel of course, but rather when you have a discussion about something that really engages you and something you’re passionate about
When that happens you can find yourself enthralled, as much taken by surprise that the conversation is being had as by the content of the conversation. Who would have thought that someone you’ve never met could be so much like someone who’s with you every day? Yourself…
Maybe you were wrong all along. Maybe friendship is just a statement away from us at all times?
The differences that separate us are as large as we choose to imagine them. When we go about trying to break these apparent differences we find there is nothing there except for our own presumptions
Do not be put off by the differences that you think might be present. Instead, praise the similarities, take joy in the things that can build a friendship. You’ll find life very tiring if you remain the captive of your own fear. Go out and make friends
May The Force be with you all
Here is a reading of this sermon by myself:
