Seasons of Friendship

by Sisterlisa

As a young girl I always sought for a best friend. I think we can all agree that we have done so. Most young ladies want a best girl friend to laugh with, cry with, rejoice with and so on. Sadly, there are times in our lives when friends will come and go either by moving, ministry changes, or sometimes in death. Our friendships certainly do go through seasons, seasons of friendship.

I grew up with a special bond with some of my best friends. Sometimes we had disagreements and sometimes we had an all out raging conflict that ended in a ‘break up’. Those times in our lives are always difficult. Those difficult times are usually, and most often, propelled into a battle due to mixed emotions, hurt, and anger. Many times it just takes some time to realize that we could have handled things differently. By then the friendship could potentially be so broken that it takes a miracle to be brought back to life, but that’s what Jesus is for. He is the Giver of Life.

Just as this earth has seasons, our friendships also have seasons. In the spring a seed has spring forth, bringing beauty to those who behold the blossoms of each flower. Those flowers unfold their stems and extends it’s leaves toward each other and toward the sun. Eventually that flower will begin to fade as summer heats up and the petals drop off the bloom. But when those petals fall, so do more seeds. Those seeds are enveloped by the earth during Autumn and drink up the refreshing water of the rain during the Winter. The seed remains dormant until the frost melts and the earth warms up from the sun again.

With each spring, more flowers are born from what seemed like a barren land. God knows which seeds to plant and which blooms to bring forth. He knows which trees will bear fruit and which fruit will bless our taste buds. I believe God uses the changing seasons to teach us many valuable lessons in life. Lessons of love, sadness, death, but most importantly, Life!

God shows us how to bring life, by His grace. Grace is undeserved favor given to us through the love of Christ. Only by His grace, can He show us how to love and bring back life to a friendship that has remained in the dormant part of winter. Winter was never meant to stay, spring has to come forth. In the winter season of friendship, Christ calls out to us to die to ourselves and let Him live in and through us, to bring back life to what He intends for good.

Seasons come and go and we can’t fight those seasons from coming. We can’t halt the changes of Autumn nor the storms in the Winter. We need to accept them as they come, through grace. God has a plan for our friendships. Sometimes He brings them to us to bring us uplifting days, a shoulder to cry on, or just a day of fun among friends. He also allows us to suffer from the harsh storms of life, but He is always in control of the changing seasons. None of us enjoy when friendships change. We are comfortable in our friendships and we sometimes horde those friendships for ourselves. We don’t like to share those friendships and we don’t like to let them go, but we can’t control our friends. We can’t force those leaves to stay on the tree. They are changing and must fall eventually. The wind carries them away, dispersing pollen to neighboring lands to bring forth new friendships in the spring.

When the time comes for friendships to change, God has a plan for them and for you. If the winds of life come, and they will at some point, don’t fight it. They come for a reason, even if we don’t understand it. It’s much more pleasant to let your friends go where God leads them, with love and respect. Let them know you love them and you send them with blessings!

I’ll be speaking more in depth on this topic of Seasons of Friendships at the Back to the Basics of Life Seminar sponsored by Beauty By Design Ministries with Alyssa Avant. Please be sure to sign up to attend this live online event, it’s free to tune in. You can also invest in the audio and written transcription of the sessions by clicking on the button to the left.

Sisterlisa is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Growing in Grace Magazine and owner of AGMinistries, a devotion blog for women. She is married and homeschools her four children while remaining active in serving the Lord in her community.