Gems for Friends

"Life long friends are life's true gems."

When I was about thirteen, I went over to a friend's house to help her clean her room. In the process of cleaning, we found best friend necklaces that had the above quote on them, right beneath a little tiny glass or plastic jewel. I fell in love with it immediately, and took to wearing it a lot. Even when that friend and I weren't as close, I still loved the necklace, for the quote sang true in my heart. "Life long friends are life's true gems."

Even though the gem fell out of the necklace about a year ago, and I don't wear it as much anymore, I still think about it.

Over the eighteen years I have experienced on this earth, I have had a lot of friends. I don't remember many from early childhood, as I have not talked to them since then, but there are even more whom I consider true friends, and still talk to sometimes. Some friends I have lost, some have fallen off the face of the earth for now, and some are closer than sisters (or brothers). Some friends I have known from childhood, and some I have only been friends with for a few months or a year.

When you get into a friendship, you never know where it will take you.

I don't get to talk to a dear, dear friend of mine very much anymore because we're both in college, in different places, and we have some different interests now than when we were children. We had plans to grow up together, and work together, and be friends FOREVER. But the deepest hopes and dreams - the ones we dreamed of when we were seven - those are the ones that have not changed a bit. So still we can talk together, dreamily remember years long ago (ten years is a long time), and imagine the future though we might not live right next door to each other as we dreamed. We met when we were seven, both children of single parents involved in the small group at church.

Still another friend, I lost and found about three months ago. I met her in middle school; we were both outcasts. We became best friends, and then she moved away. I missed her so much. When it seemed like she fell off the face of the earth, I mourned for the loss of our friendship. Three months ago, I finally stumbled upon a way to contact her again. I am still waiting for a response to tell me that I was not a fool for dreaming of finding her again, but that's what I have been doing for the past five years. Waiting. Another five months won't make a difference.

There is, of course, the friendship of my dear sister. We've had rocky moments - much more than I'd care to admit or look back upon. But she is still my sister. I still love to listen to what's going on in her life, and I love to share what's going on in mine. We laugh together, sing together, play piano together and share dreams together. Although we no longer write stories over Duplos or Legos, we do share silly moments of dreams or the randomest thoughts. I met her long before I could really remember her. I can't imagine life without her. She has laughed with joy at my most joyful moments, and any moment I cry, she is ready to storm off and beat the pulp out of whoever dared to hurt her dearest sister (you have been sufficiently warned ;) ). She sometimes finds herself at a stalemate between my desires and our parents' desires, but we ... how can I describe it? God has given us sistership of blood, yes, but also of our hearts. If I could ever say I was one with a dear sister, it would be the sister of my blood. She has a heart of gold, to outshine many a gem. Even a diamond, dear one.

I was meaning for this blog post to go in a different way. Oh well.

I have many other gems in my crown too. My dear roommates (they drive me crazy at times, but most times I just love them, their crazy awesome selves), the wonderful girls I have met here at school through various acquaintances, the women of the dance team... oh there are so many. (To the boys: Yes, I am friends with you, or you probably wouldn't be reading this blog. But there's a difference between my girls and you guys. You are my guy friends. These young women are sisters of my heart, and gems in my crown.)

But today I had another gem of a friend visit me at school. I have only known her a little over a year, but it doesn't seem that way. They say that common grounds bond people more than common roots do. A year after meeting her, we realized how common our grounds truly were. And though the grounds are rather difficult to travel, because we are in the same place, we can support each other. Neither one is on the other side yet, so we hold fast. We shall not cross this river alone. Nay, with the Lord by our side, He has given us a cord of three.

The fact of the matter is that the Lord makes lots of cords of three. We're all woven together into this great braid. And great braids are much, much more strong than the single cords we start out as.