Friendship, Thankfulness, and a Going-Away Poem

Everybody has those friends–the ones they can call for help, the ones they trust for wise advice, and the ones who are right there with them in the trenches who understand every wayward emotion and thought–the ones they will dearly miss if ever they move away. I’d like to tell you about a few of my closest friends. I thank God for these ladies, and I will miss them when we pack up our things for good and say goodbye in a couple short weeks.

Sometimes a good friend comes into your life at the last minute and makes you think, “If only I’d invited her to bring her boys to church play dates sooner!” No matter how confident or self-assured someone may seem, they still need good friends. I remind myself of this often now. This friend just “gets” me. I don’t need to explain myself or try to take back my words when I say something silly. She knows what I mean and is probably thinking the same thing. We can talk for hours. We can drink coffee for hours. We can break up fights between our boys for hours. I would break up a hundred fights if it meant we could talk together. We need friends who are like us so we don’t feel hopeless and alone. I thank God for this sister in Christ who makes me feel hopeful and loved.

Sometimes an extroverted and chatty gal needs a cool, calm, and collected introverted friend to give her biblical wisdom and the love only an older and wiser sister in Christ can offer. I don’t know where I would be without this sister in Christ. I don’t think I would be as understanding or as grounded as I am now. We complement each other well. She sees things from a different perspective from me and I from her. Our friendship over the years has exemplified what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12. First Paul encourages unity in the Spirit through spiritual gifts and then he explains, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ…The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you'” (v. 12, 21). We need friends who are different from us in order to grow and I thank God for blessing me with such an encouraging and inspiring sister in Christ.

What can I say about this last friend? Her sense of humor shines in a very quiet and unassuming way. She gives me advice when she doesn’t even know she’s giving me advice. She kindly draws me back to the gospel when I feel anxious. I’ve actually known her since she was in high school, but we weren’t close friends back then (I was in college and I was so cool). I watched this friend meet a man she really liked, wait for him to be ready to date her, and finally marry him last year. I sang in the wedding. It was incredibly special to see two people I care about vow to love each other until the end of their days. What a blessing and a joy to watch someone grow and then to have that person share her wisdom with you. I thank God for this funny and kind sister in Christ.

In conclusion,

I love you ladies dearly,
And although you can’t stay near me,
I pray we’ll see each other some day soon.

The Lord remains good and kind,
And often brings you to mind,
During these crisp fall days and under the harvest moon.

I remember your love and care,
In dark nights of stress and bright mornings fair,
And how we sang together, much in tune.

Our lives will continue apart,
But you’ll stay within my heart,
Your wisdom I’ll pass on to friends in bloom.

Some day with eternal joy before us,
We’ll join the beloved saints’ chorus,
Until then I pray we’ll see each other soon.