A Friday Two-fer

It's another dreary day in the Ozarks. Apparently the local weather hasn't gotten the word that it is no longer April and the daily showers and thunderstorms are continuing into May.

In a little bit I will be venturing out for the third time in the past week to meet with someone for coffee, brunch or lunch. I'm becoming a regular social butterfly!
Plus I actually went to church on Sunday! So much people-ing! Add a tooth extraction and a haircut into the week and I have been out of the house pretty much every day.
What is going on?

I've been thinking about friendships and people interactions lately. I don't know that many people would share my own assessments of friendships and family relationships. I do realize that close family relationships seem to be more rare than they should be and many people just don't have loving relationships within their natural families. 

To me -- family is family, and friends are friends. 
Ours is a pretty tight family -- from parents to siblings, to spouses, kids, and cousins. It's kind of a birthright thing and so it is a limited kind of relationship.
I know that some people consider close community relationships to be "family," but I've always thought that being chosen to be a friend is its own kind of valued relationship. There are many chosen friendships that are much closer than familial relationships.
While I might not have any control over who my family is; I have complete control over who my friends are. So do you.
And friendships aren't always reciprocal. I might consider you to be my friend and you may not consider me to be your friend. We each get to make that choice for ourselves. You can't refuse to be my friend any more than I can demand to be yours.

However, we can be friendly (or friend-like) to everyone.
We can treat people with respect and dignity, and we can live in community with people that we don't always agree with. Sometimes that might mean avoiding each other's company. My own preference for being alone is rarely about avoiding certain people and more about just being more comfortable without other people being around.
It's weird that one can be around a lot of people and still feel alone (like at a ballgame or event) and that's a good thing for me, or one could be around a lot of people and feel lonely (like a party or a church gathering) and that's a pretty sad thing.
Being alone and being lonely are very different things.

I'm not certain what inspired this little rant today, but maybe you know someone that is lonely and can reach out to them today.
Or maybe you have a friend or family member that could use a word of encouragement or a reminder that they are loved.
Or maybe I just needed the reminder to be more friendly to people.

Have a grand weekend!

John