You've Got a Friend in Me — Candace D.O. Green

Hello friends! (Oh the irony of that greeting.) I write this as my dog lays her head on my lap, begging for attention. I think she is taking the hint and…oh wait no, she’s bringing me another toy. Be right back.

I’m on a mission to regain the faith I have let slip away over the years, and I must admit that I have a long way to go. One of my devotions included a video about friendship, and it’s stuck with me all weekend. It came from Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” If you don’t believe in God or the Bible you may be tempted to click off of this post, but I would encourage you to just bear with me for a few minutes.

There is a lot going on. If you watch or if you’re like me and just have the news alerts come to your phone, you’ll see that we are living in unprecedented times. Life is already hard, and unfortunately today’s political, social and economic climate aren’t making things any easier. Community is vital. In the video part of my devotional, the gentlemen made a point that we usually see friendship as one-sided. We use language like “My circle of friends” “The people I surround myself with” “How well have my friends shown up for me?” In general, there is nothing wrong with any of those three statements. The problem emerges when we are so focused on how our friends are treating us, that we don’t ask ourselves “Am I being a friend to my friends?” We often see ourselves as the center of our friendship circles, but sometimes we are in the circle that is surrounding someone else. It’s not always about us. Shocker.

Now, I pride myself on being a good friend. I check in often, ask how I can support in hard times, give thoughtful gifts etc., etc. Today I realized that while I am a good friend, it’s usually when it’s convenient for me. Those who really know me know that I am a routine based person. I do things a certain way, at a certain time, and when things cause me to deviate it is very frustrating. (Yes I know, I like to be in control and I’m sorta kinda, maybe trying to work on that?) Back to the story. I got a text today asking me to feed and walk a friend’s dog after work. No big deal right? Except that after work is my gym time (non-negotiable), and I have my own dog to take care of after that. In short, helping her would throw off my routine, and I didn’t like that. I almost said no, until I realized that I would want a friend to set aside a few minutes to do something like that for me if I asked. (I also realized I was being dramatic, because she lives 4 minutes away from me, and it would only take 20 minutes max of my time…) Anyway, all of that went through my brain in about 60 seconds, and I responded “Yeah I can!”.

Y’all want to know what’s funny? I ended up getting home at about the same time I usually do anyway. 😂

Plus, her dog is cute, so I actually enjoyed it.

So, what kind of friend are you? Are you only around when it fits into your schedule? Do you treat your friends how you would want to be treated? I for one am glad I was able to take a step back and see that I definitely have some room for improvement in this area.

Cheers to being better friends, friends.

Love always,

CDOG