November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

By Nate LaClaire

I was thinking last Sunday about how my life has changed over the past year and that has led me to several days of consideration about this topic. Some know that on my 26th birthday I was frustrated about where I was in life and set a list of goals to achieve before my next birthday. As August 2008 approached, I became more and more depressed and frustrated by the fact that I still hadn’t achieved most of my goals. Well, my 27th birthday has come and gone and I still haven’t achieved most of the goals on that list. Know what? I still care, because all of the goals will have a lasting and positive impact on my life, but I am no longer mad. I realized on Sunday that while I was focusing on certain areas of my life, something else was happening. My list of goals included reconnecting with one old friend. Aside from that, the goals had nothing to do with friendships, or relationships of any kind. What I realized on Sunday was that God had other plans: to give me the quality relationships that I so much needed. Over the past year, I have formed closer friendships with people that I have known for several years but hadn’t been close to, restored close friendships with people I had drifted away from, reconnected with people I had lost touch with, and formed new friendships. A few days after my birthday last year, someone commented to me about telling my friends something. Although I kept this to myself, I realized at that moment that although I had “friends,” I hadn’t been giving myself time for friendships. I knew people that I would consider friends, but I couldn’t be sure they felt the same way about me. Then there were the people that I knew I could count on as friends to help me out in a pinch, but could they say the same about me? 

No man is an island and I am living proof. Through Facebook and LinkedIn, I have reconnected with those I have missed communicating with. Through church and college, I have built new friendships and rekindled old ones. Meanwhile, I have learned who my real friends were that I was just too blind to recognize. I discovered the true meaning of friendship and learned what a real relationship looks like.

I thank God for what He has done in my life this past year. I pray that I will never again get so caught up in my own list of goals that I miss the work He is doing in my life.