I’ve written before on the joys of friendship. Aristotle identified this as a virtue that you could not have too much of and did a detailed look at it in the Nicomachean Ethics. C.S. Lewis followed suit and has a whole chapter on the importance of friendship in his work “The Four Loves.”
What got me thinking on this? It was my prayer time last night. As readers know, I have moved in the past few months to a new city and am attending a new Seminary. Working with new people and attending a new church and going to school has given me the chance to meet several people.
So I prayed last night for the people I’ve got to know well. The list just kept going and I was amazed by that. In fact, throughout the day I’ve thought of people that I had forgot to include in that list. I’d also say that many of the staff at the Seminary I’ve come to know as friends as well.
I also thought about my roommate. Readers of my blog know about my Smallville obsession. I might not have mentioned it, but I have a particular obsession with the character of Chloe, who Clark should have gone out with a long time ago since she’s the best looking girl in the series and she already had her eye on Clark.
So what does my roomie do? Oh he has a fun graphic of Chloe turning into Hilary Clinton. I do happen to be a strong Republican. However, it just made me laugh. (Although he says the look on my face was priceless when I first saw it.) Why? Because I see it as a sign of friendship more than anything else. This is someone who feels safe joking with me and wants to make me laugh.
Teasing is a habit I particularly enjoy, and it’s one I save for good friends. It is actually something that draws me closer to them. Sharing laughs with friends over common things that are just silly and only understood by a select few makes friendship almost like a club where you know who the members are and those members share a special bond.
Tonight, we had another friend come over. We had an evening of gaming that ended with looking at the new Super Smash Brothers Brawl website and listening to the music and watching the videos and then discussing things like our jobs and saying that we’d see each other at church next Sunday.
Thursday evening, the new Smallville airs and I’ll be in class. I will be taping it though and then having a friend from class come home with me to watch the new episode. Who knows? Maybe we’ll find someone else there who is a fan who will want to watch it with us as well?
After the death of a friend this week, it really has made me think. There are so many people in our lives that we just take for granted. For all I know, they might not be here tomorrow. For all I know, I might not be here tomorrow. One of my friends now takes the time regularly to remind me that he is my friend. That’s something to be appreciated.
Tonight, as I pray, I will again remember my list of friends. I left a lot of people behind, but I have been blessed to have a whole new group of people come by as well.
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