Ask Aunt B

Dear Aunt B,

How do you celebrate friends? I really love my friends and I feel they get lost in all the hectic of living.

Thank God for Friends

Dear Thank God for Friends,

Today I think my answer to how do you celebrate friends would be frequently. Celebrate your friends frequently. I guess another answer might be to celebrate them by being a good friend back to them.

Right now, what I want is more time with my friends. I have recently had an experience where I had the privilege to have time with really old friends, old friends and new friends. I love them all. Sometimes we take for granted all of our loved ones. I want to do less of that. I want to celebrate with all of my loved ones. So how do we do that?

Communicating with them is my best advice. Communicate in all the ways we have available. Yes, text them, call them, and send them cards. Spend time with them when possible. Do fun things together, plan trips together, have each other over for dinner. Any and all things you can think of. I just had someone tell me that they just started a book club with friends they went to high school with. That inspired me, I think I will reach out to some friends with this very idea.

Spend personal time in gratitude for your friends. Send love and offer prayers for your friends even if just in the privacy of your own heart.

Your friends know you and usually know what you need at certain times in your life. Let them do what they know. You do what you know for them. There are always times in our life when we lose touch with friends or life just takes over. True friends understand this but that doesn’t mean they like it. When you realize you haven’t spoken with a friend for sometime, just call them.

If you have lost friends that are still important to you, reach out to them. Tell them they are important to you. Ask them if you did anything to harm the relationship and ask for forgiveness. If they did something to harm the friendship, forgive them. Forgive them even if you don’t choose to reach out and continue with the friendship. Forgiveness is for you. It is never good to hold anger or hurt in your heart. I remember reading someone say(sorry I don’t remember who) “Nothing is harder than forgiving someone who never asks for your forgiveness and isn’t sorry for what they did”. It still helps you to forgive.

Love,

Aunt B

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