Friends

I've been meaning to write this blog post for a couple of weeks now but I'm just now getting around to it. Anyway, I heard something someone said one day, sort-of in passing, that has the potential to change lives. We had a musician perform at Ebenezers a few weeks ago, Justin McRoberts. Between songs he told some stories. It was in the midst of one of these stories, when he said something that shook me to the core. He said that being a musician he travels a lot and constantly is meeting new friends. Then, almost as a side note he added that he has come to realize that there are no strangers, only friends, some you know well and some you haven't met yet. He said he views everyone as a friend until they prove otherwise, rather that vice versa.

Go ahead...read that again. Now think about it.

If you adopted that mentality how would that change your interactions with others? How would change how you viewed others? Don't we give our friends a pass when they are grumpy and assume there is a reason for their mood? If our friends ask of for something don't we try to give them what they need? Don't we forgive their quirks or neurotic tendencies? Instead of viewing the guy that just cut you off as a jerk, don't we just laugh it off if it's our friend? Don't we confront our friends when they need to be confronted and protect when they need to be protected?

For the last couple of weeks, I've been pondering this concept. I truly think that having this slight shift in mentality could be life altering. Truth is, it's really hard to do, but I'm praying that I can make it second nature. I want to stop seeing strangers and begin to see friends, old and new.