“When friends speak overmuch of times gone by, often it’s because they sense their present time is turning them from friends to strangers.” Godric by Frederick Buechner
Gems like the one above are what made Godric a redeeming reading experience for me. The medieval language was rather difficult for me to wade through but every once in awhile, I’d hit some turn of phrase or beautiful truth bearing sentence like the one above.
Friendship is such a complex thing. There are friends that indeed only fill a certain season of our lives, and others that endure and last through time. I remember once when visiting a friend in Mongolia, she commented on how we were both living in other countries and spent more time talking about our past than anything else. And sure enough, if it weren’t for Facebook, I’d have no idea what was going on in her life right now.
I’ve been thinking about friendship and the shifting nature of relationships a lot lately. How necessary they are for living, how hard they can be to sustain when life takes a turn. How hard it can be to make amends when trust is broken. How our changing self-perception and chosen memory impacts our clumsy attempts to build bridges and know one another.
But oh how sweet it can be when it goes right.
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