Friends For A Reason, A Season, A Lifetime

“Can we please recreate this?” one friend texted this week.

“Are we supposed to find similar clothing?” “I know I can’t fit into that dress anymore.” “I’m not getting bangs!” came the cascade of funny replies. “No. We can just stand in this order.” How fun it will be to stand in each other’s presence tonight, nurturing our lifelong bond.

Friendship can take a variety of forms as we live our way through life. “People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” This is the opening line of a poem by Brian A. “Drew” Chalker. Since the poem became popular, the “reason, season, and lifetime” concept has been explored by many. Right now, I revisit the guiding wisdom.

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Reason, Season, or Lifetime by Brian A. “Drew” Chalker

People come into your life for a reason,
A season or a lifetime.
When you know which one it is, you will
Know what to do for that person.

When someone is in your life for a
REASON, it is usually to meet a
Need you have expressed. They have come to
assist you through a difficulty, to provide
you with guidance and support, to aid you
physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to
be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your
part, at an inconvenient time, this person
will say or do something to bring the
relationship to an end. Sometimes they die.
Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they
act up and force you to take a stand. What
we must realize is that our need has been
met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered,
and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a
SEASON, because your turn has come to
share, grow or learn. They bring you an
experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never
known. They usually give you an unbelievable
amount of joy. Believe it, it is real.
But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional
foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and
put what you have learned to use in all other
relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is
blind, but friendship is clairvoyant.

HUMAN CONNECTIONS ARE ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH AND WELL-BEING. THANK
EVERYONE WHOSE PRESENCE IN YOUR LIFE HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE.

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I look forward to thanking my LIFETIME friends tonight whose presence in my life has made a lasting difference. I am comforted by knowing that my best high school friends are always just a simple text away. Time passes yet our loving bond still remains the same. Don’t imagine, dear friends, that God’s timetable is the same as ours; as the psalm says, for with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day (2 Peter 3:8, VOICE).

Many of us do not have friendships carried forward from childhood. Yet human connections are essential to our health and our well-being, deeply essential for every single one of us. Might we put up our inner antenna with the help of the Holy Spirit and prayerfully engender a wide variety of “soul friends”? Some friends will assist us for a specific reason. Others friends will come close for a given season. Still other friends will journey with us through our entire lifetime. Each unique person whose presence in our life has somehow made a difference is an important part of God’s eternal root system growing deep inside us.

…Sue…

P.S. If you live in Atlanta and would like to explore further this concept of “soul friends”, please join us on Wednesday, March 22nd from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm for our Women’s Lenten Lunch and Learn. Longtime Northside member, Joan Alexander, will share her maturing wisdom: “Unwrapping the Gift of Soul Friends.” Lunch is complimentary and no registration is necessary. Please join us in the Watson Faith and Arts Center, 2799 Northside Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.