Yesterday morning, I got a little spiritual advice from a friend of mine. He pointed out that it seemed like when I’m not at my best, it’s because I’m trying to do it alone.
When you’re feeling down, or spiritually challenged, you need to have some friends to reach out to, and vice versa.
Of course, most of us know that, but how many are really working on those kinds of relationships? My guess is that, because we finds ourselves so busy, we’re not building those tight friendships that will sustain us over the long haul.
So, last night at my men’s group meeting, I brought this issue up. When we first started the group right after Easter, we were all on board with the concept of accountability. We were all looking for a group of faithful guys that would support us in our daily struggles and rejoice with us when things went well.
Although we have a group of very committed guys, we haven’t exactly done what we set out to do. We don’t really get in touch with each other throughout the week, and we don’t reach out to one another when we’re having a bad day. We want that, but we’re not doing it. More than anything else, it comes back to commitment.
As I mentioned yesterday, we all want to live good and faithful lives that will one day lead us to heaven. Trying to make that epic trip by ourselves is nearly impossible. Being surrounded by a small group of trusted and caring friends is essential to success. I’m talking about the kind of friends we can share our struggles with. Most of us have lots of friends, but in reality, we share very little with them. These aren’t the kind of friendships I’m talking about.
Instead, I’m asking you to consider letting a few choice people into your life who will know you well. These people are not your spouse, although they certainly need to know you better than anyone else.
Think about how much better your life would be if you had some discerning friends who you discussed your deepest hopes, desires and struggles with. I know some of my closest friends have prevented me from making decisions I would have regretted later.
For some of us, this challenge is not going to be easy. Such friendships take a lot of time and energy to develop, and you may think you just can’t fit another thing on to your plate. I think this might be worth taking something off the plate, in order to fit these kinds of friendships on. Don’t keep going it alone.
