"The person you will be ten years from now is largely determined by the friends you keep and the books you read today." UnknownI think I'm in some real trouble. (Just kidding . . . )
My favorite books are anything by C.S. Lewis, the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks (except for the Knight Series, just can't dive into that series for some reason), the Artemis Fowl chronicles, (yes, I realize that most of the books listed above are for young adults but I'll bet you'd enjoy them too.) and all types of biographies, history, christian wisdom, and detective stories.
As for my choice of friends I feel I'm faring much better in this realm. I have friends that I can tell my darkest secrets and not feel judged or condemned. I am blessed that I have friends that if I needed them any time of the day or night I could call and they would make time for me. Friends that are know how to have fun but also run deep. I try to be this kind of friend to them also though I'm pretty sure that they far surpass me in these areas.
I was thinking about the long journey that we all have been on that has led us to the friendships that we currently possess. There has been a fair amount of bumps, potholes and several crossroads where a failure to communicate or forgive could have spelled the end of our friendship. I'm so grateful that my pride played a backseat to friendship in most of those situations.
I was watching "Madea Goes To Jail" with my wife the other day (I thought it was hilarious, very similar to "Diary Of A Mad Black Woman" but still very funny) and "Madea" was explaining to her nephew about the types of people that were going to come and go in his life. She explained that some people were like leafs in that they were going to blow from this situation to that and not to count on those people when you needed them. Another type of person was compared to a branch on a tree. This branch might look solid but when you climbed on it and rested your entire weight on it the branch was probably going to break and let you down. The third type of person was like the roots of a tree. A tree might have lots of leaves and several branches but it had to have some roots if it was going to survive.
I'm very blessed to have some "root" friends in my life right now. I hope you have some "roots" in your life as well. Life's journey can be unbearable if you're alone. Just remember, during those parts of the journey when we don't have our friends close by, (and those days will come) or maybe when we don't even have any friends, we can always have the ultimate "root" friend in Jesus Christ. He says if we believe in Him and surrender our life to Him our life will have purpose but without His roots, our lives mean nothing. I've tried life both ways and despite the world's view of needing God because of our emotional weakness I pick God.
"For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." (Proverbs 2:6)
