The Glow of Friendship

Last night my daughter had a sleepover to celebrate her 11th birthday.

Lots of girls, lots of cake, lots of laughter, and lots of fear.

Yep, that’s right.

The girls had fun most of the night until late night paranoia set in.

Suddenly someone heard heavy breathing followed by lots of gurgling.

I watched as they tried a variety of methods to make the sound stop.

They decided to change the room they slept in.

That didn’t work.

Maybe if they tried switching around the spots they slept in the sound would stop.

That didn’t work either.

I tried to explain that they were just hearing the sounds of each person beginning to fall asleep.

They looked at me like I had lost my mind for even suggesting such a thing.

“The thing we are afraid of is real. Can’t you see that?”, they seemed to say.

These girls were not hanging out in dark scary rooms.

As a matter of fact, the sleepover had a glow-in-the dark theme.

The girls were surrounded by light.

They slept in a sea of glow sticks and glow balloons, yet all they could think of was the darkness.

Have you ever noticed how emotion spreads through a group like wildfire?

One person gets scared, then fear spreads.

You talk to a negative person enough and suddenly you can see flaws in others you never saw before.

You get swept away in what appears to be real.

After all, if most of the group is feeling it maybe you are the crazy one.

 

Is it wrong to share your feelings with friends?

Should you just walk around with a plastic smile?

Of course not.

Emotion isn’t bad at all, but accepting the emotion as the complete reality you are living in is dangerous.

It’s like being in a dark room full of those glow sticks yet never seeing the light all around you.

Have you ever noticed that glow sticks don’t last forever?

Eventually they just burn out.

You can’t create your own light.

I can’t either.

That’s why we need the light of God in our life.

We have to spend enough time in God’s word, that His word becomes the last word to resonate in our hearts when we feel the darkness closing in.

If we don’t keep returning to Him our light won’t stay lit.

We will burn out.

We will break down.

We will give in to whatever emotions we create and feed off the emotions of others.

Emotions aren’t wrong, but they aren’t always reality either.

That’s why our group of friends is so important.

The good ones will call you on your crazy and allow you to call them on theirs.

We all need people in our lives to tell us like it is with their mouths while they point us to God with their fingers.

Choose your friends wisely.

They will become the climate you acclimate to.

You will become like the people you are around.

Remember friend, they will also become like you.

The girls in our home may have been a little scared last night, but they woke up this morning laughing, loving and hugging.

Sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning!

Real friends will walk with you through both seasons.

If you have the kind of friends who encourage you, who point you to Jesus and aren’t afraid to call you on your crazy, give them a little shout out in the comment section below these words.

Tell us what you love about them and why.

Share this blog post on Facebook and tag them.

Good friends are hard to find.

Let’s thank God for them today!

 

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