Some last a lifetime, most last a season.

The other day while watching a Madea play (yeah, I actually watch it even though the script is usually not that good, although the character Madea is funny to me). Also, in case you don't know, Tyler Perry is a Christian and he always puts messages into his movies or plays. Anyways, I'm not gonna talk about the movies or Tyler Perry in this blog. What I am going to discuss is a message that I heard the other day. It changed my view on friendships. It was actually that much an an eye opener. First off, we must remember that not all of our friends that we meet last a lifetime. Everyone I'm sure has experienced temporary friendships, whether or not you intended that, which I don't think anyone actually "intends" for a friendship to be temporary. However, many are. With that being the case, we can describe friendship in comparison to tree. So lets first break down what makes up a tree. There are leaves, branches, and roots. The leaves describes the people that only last for a short period of time in your life, and usually they are obvious, you know you'll only deal with them for a little bit of time, could be an assignment at work, could be anything really. Could just be your not feeling a close relationship but you just "hang out". Whatever it may be, leaves wither away. These are the ones you shouldn't care about when they do wither away. Its a who cares situation.

Next we have the branches. Now the branches are tricky. They fool you. They last for awhile typically, just like any branch does on a tree for the most part. The branches are usually close for quite some time, a good few years, but God decides when they break off. And like any branch, it will break off, and usually it wasn't strong to begin with, but basically in time you just made it strong through some growing. However, without a strong connection, the friendship will end, and usually this happens through eventually growing apart, or some big argument, or some other issue that may have happened. In nature, it usually happens in time, or by some strong force of wind, or even birds or squirrels etc. And when this does, it hurts. It's not like a leaf that just falls off the tree, its a branch that has been snapped.

Then we have our roots. Roots are the best. These are the true friends you make. These are the only group of people you'll meet that have impact for a lifetime, all else only last for seasons. Branches and leaves for instance. However, the roots lay at the bottom of the tree, they are the foundation, and you just know they will be there through thick and thin, you just know that they are there for you when in times of trouble, you just know that they got your back on anything. To put it simply, they last a lifetime. Which means a lot. No matter what, even in the most intense of arguments, you'll never lose each other. You could even apply roots to certain family members as well. And honestly, you're lucky when you have at least 3 roots (friendship wise, not family wise). And I feel blessed, that I have about 6.

The whole reason I'm posting this is because lately at college I've been struggling with making a group of friends, but honestly, that's alright with me. God didn't predestine it. God didn't have it that way for me here, at least not yet. And I should be blessed that back in my home area, I have many many friends, and that I have a few true friends. I know I'm not alone at heart. I'd also like to add that we must learn to be careful of who we identify as branches and roots. It can be difficult. When you truly lose a friend that you thought was close, remember, it might have only been a branch. The roots you have, whomever they may be, will always keep you going through it.