Friendship Lessons

Several years ago, I moved to Houston, Texas, United States of America. Initially, I told my husband I was too old to start over with new friends.

I had lived in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, for twenty years, and I had a core group of friends—many of whom I considered family.

I was determined not to make any new friends because I told myself I was too old to make new friends. I told my husband my rationale: “I love you, so I will move, but do not expect me to make friends.” He gently laughed at me. After our move, I began working out at a gym daily. I noticed a young lady, and we spoke briefly. One day we struck up a conversation. I discovered that we were both teachers. And we were both busy with planning and plotting our Christmas vacations. Guess what? We ended up becoming friends. God sent her to me because He had a lot He wanted to teach me—namely, I still had the capacity to become friends with someone new even at my age. And my new friend is a Muslim. I have learned so much about her life and religion. We both share a love for children and a love for God. She calls him Allah; I call him God. But we both call on Him. God provided another lesson in our friendship.

I learned that love can build a bridge between strangers, making them friends. John counsels us in his first letter, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. . . . Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:7, 8, 11, 12, NIV). God has given each of us the capacity to love.

It does not matter that we are different from one another.

We can still find common ground. If we would all learn to love and accept others despite our differences, what a wonderful world it would be!

Paula Sanders Blackwell