{"id":1370,"date":"2012-11-11T09:00:40","date_gmt":"2012-11-11T15:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1370"},"modified":"2012-11-11T13:38:54","modified_gmt":"2012-11-11T19:38:54","slug":"looking-for-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1370","title":{"rendered":"Looking for Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Where to Look<\/strong>
\nWe\u2019ve been exploring the positive aspects of having friends. There are proven medical and psychological benefits of having friends. Plus, God says it\u2019s a good idea. So let\u2019s say we\u2019ve now decided to step out of our comfort zone and try to find\u00a0some friends.<\/p>\n

First, may I suggest that if you are married you look for a friend of the same sex \u2013 unless, of course, you have a proclivity to swing both ways as they say. The point is \u2013 we are looking for friends, not an excuse to have an affair. Some delude themselves into thinking they are looking for \u201cfriends\u201d when they are just looking to have sex or as they say \u201cget laid.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are looking for a chum, a pal, a buddy, or a confidant. Where would we meet such a friend?<\/p>\n

Well, we probably won\u2019t meet them in a chat room on the Internet. Internet friends are like fantasy land friends. It\u2019s virtual reality \u2013 not real. Check out Brad Paisley\u2019s youtube video of his song called Online.<\/a> It\u2019s a hoot! It\u2019s about a short, chubby guy who lives with his folks in the Midwest, works at the pizza pit, drives an old car, plays the tuba and so on but on line he\u2019s 6\u20195\u201d tall, drives a fancy car, is rich, handsome, a black belt in Karate, lives in Malibu and the chorus says, \u201cI\u2019m so much cooler online.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s wrong to meet people online but we can\u2019t get an accurate picture of how people really are unless we are around them. So we have to get out and about. We might meet potential friends at work, church, school, seminars, workshops, PTA, club meetings, charitable events, and so on. We are looking for someone with shared interests. Basically we need to get out and about. And for some of us, it\u2019s not easy.<\/p>\n

I had a woman tell me she was praying for God to bring her a friend, but she never went anywhere or did anything. Now sometimes people are confined by being a caregiver and can\u2019t get out, but this was not the case. We have to do our part and make an effort. I always think about that joke where the person begged God to help him win the lottery and God finally said, \u201cHelp me out here \u2013 at least buy a lottery ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to Look for<\/strong>
\nWhat qualities would you want in a friend? There\u2019s nothing wrong with purposefully deciding who we want as our closest friends. Remember there is a distinct difference between acquaintances and intimate friends. We should love everyone but that doesn\u2019t mean we want everyone for a close friend. Wrong friends can have a negative influence. Bad company corrupts good character. People we spend time with can pull us down or lift us up. (Proverbs 22:24-25, 1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 Peter 3:17) Friendships take an investment in time and energy so we want to invest wisely.<\/p>\n

We want friends who will give us a different perspective (Proverbs 27:17), not gossip about us (Proverbs 16:28), be loyal (Proverbs. 27:9), lift us up (Ecclesiastes 4:8-12), listen to us (Proverbs 19:20), tell us the truth (Proverbs 27:9), and value us (John 15:13).<\/p>\n

What Others Look for in Us<\/strong>
\nThen we must ask: What kind of friend am I? Do I have those qualities I\u2019m looking for in others? I\u2019d like to be the kind of friend we find in Mark 2, but know I fall short.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus was preaching in a home. Four men came carrying a man who couldn\u2019t walk on his own because he was paralyzed. Who knows how long they had been carrying this man so he could see Jesus. Now that\u2019s true friendship. But this friendship goes even further. When they got to where Jesus was preaching it was so crowded \u201cthere was no room left, not even outside the door (Mark 2:2).\u201d Now these four friends were determined to get this crippled man to Jesus so they climbed on the roof, removed some of the tiles and with ropes, lowered him down in front of Jesus. The Bible says Jesus saw their faith and healed the man. The word \u201ctheir\u201d indicates it was the faith of this man and all these friends.<\/p>\n

I often wonder if I would be the kind of friend who would have said, \u201cOkay, I got you to the front door and maybe you can get someone else to carry you the rest of the way.\u201d Or would I have taken a look at the crowd and said, \u201cYou have got to be kidding. There is no way we\u2019re getting you in to see Jesus today.\u201d I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

I am sure that friends are important. So whether we are looking for friends to be with or looking to be the friend others want to be with, remember this: It\u2019s the friends we meet along life\u2019s road who help us appreciate the journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where to Look We\u2019ve been exploring the positive aspects of having friends. There are proven medical and psychological benefits of having friends. Plus, God says it\u2019s a good idea. So let\u2019s say we\u2019ve now decided to step out of our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}