Friends And Relationships

I have had several conversations recently that have stood out to me for different reasons. Different people, different circumstances have all pointed up things I may need to know, to pay attention to.

Friday
I had a conversation with one friend about a relationship I was having problems with, and forgiveness came up. Later, I met up with another friend, and he was talking about a talk he'd heard recently, which was talking about forgiveness and how it needs to work. Which made a lot of sense, and was really helpful at the time. And another thing he said was about the blog - that my strongest posts were ones where I was talking about ideas, rather than what I've been up to. Which is something I've been trying to do more of since then.

Saturday
Work as usual was followed by a BBQ to celebrate a friend's birthday. Which was really nice - one of the nicest evenings I've had in quite some time. Chilling with a bunch of friends, and a lot of silliness was the order of the day. And I managed to have a long, rambling conversation with the person I am having problems with. Which is a very good sign.

Sunday
A nice relaxing afternoon, where I wrote a poem about the previous evening. Which is good - writing is always good. And in the evening, we had a speaker talking about Compassion UK at church, and I thought about my sponsored child, who I haven't been in touch with for a while now. I was chatting with a friend, and she was saying that she was the same, that she hadn't written to hers for even longer. So we both came away feeling that that was something we needed to attend to - I haven't done it yet. I also met someone new at church who was just sponsoring a child, and met up with an old friend who is a Compassion advocate; it was good to see her, to catch up for a bit, and to find out what's new in her life.

Tuesday
I went round to see a couple of friends in the evening. They live pretty near me, and they have invited me to come round often; but I don't often take them up on it - the last time I went round was just after my birthday. But it's always a nice evening when I do go round; and this was no exception. There was a lot of laughter, and we talked about poetry, which is always a good thing.

Thursday
Two conversations stood out today; one on Street Teams and one with a friend a bit later.The first one was with a guy called Darren, who started talking about basically ghost stories that had happened to him. He said sometimes he felt that someone or something was trying to get through to him, and I just felt this nudge to suggest he asked God to speak to him. He said he felt that was a good idea, that he used to pray, and he felt he should get back to it; and also that he wanted to read the Bible more, and asked if he could ask me if he had any questions about it. I agreed, as long as he doesn't expect me to have all the answers, and he said that was fine. So I look forward to hearing more about what he finds. And the other was with a friend, to discuss an idea I had to start a Christian publisher. He was very encouraging, and suggested the next step was to pray about a mission statement, so I've been doing that.

Sunday
Sunday morning was the celebration of the dedication of Adelaide Read, and led to lots of generally quite chatty and relaxing conversations - celebration is always good. And in the evening I was chatting to a couple who may want to get involved with Street Teams. Which would be good, as we may well be losing a few members over the next few months.

So, all sorts of different conversations that made me think in some way about (my) relationships. Relationships both show you something of who you are, and to a certain extent shape you too. And the fact that mine are so varied is almost certainly a good thing. And thinking about them has brought certain things to mind. For instance, that relationships work best when you are able to just be in each others' company. However, conversely, they only really grow when you make the effort to actually do things together, to spend time together; it doesn't just happen. But, most importantly, they are one of the things that make life worth living.

Monday To Mentoring To (More) Mulled Wine

And so we now get to Mon 16th, when I went to a friend's house to watch 'Scrooged' on their 92" screen. Very nice; so they make the most of it by having film nights while it is dark-not so much point in the Summer. Anyway, one of my personal Xmas traditions is to read or watch a version of 'A Christmas Carol' at some point in December. And that was one I hadn't seen before. Now I have; and I have to say it's worth it. Very funny, and it does a great job at doing the story differently. I'd definitely be up for watching it again.

Tuesday was so quiet I can't remember much happening. Apart from telephone conversations with friends I don't see that often-so two conversations kept me on the phone for almost four hours. Seriously. But on the other hand, I probably won't talk to them again for weeks, at least.

Wenesday, on the other hand, was very busy. After work (you know, that thing I go to every now and then), I met up with a friend who I'm kind of mentoring. I say 'kind of', as he doesn't really need to get my advice, so much as the opportunity to talk about what he's up to and turn it over himself. He's working as a Chaplain's Assistant at the University, and doing a Master's alongside it. But what he mostly talked about was the stuff he's doing in the Uni. His relationships with students, and churches; what good things he's been seeing; and what issues and opportunites he sees ahead. I think he has a very good idea of what God is doing in him and through him, and how to make the most of that. Which is brilliant.
And then, after that, I went home and got changed in time to go out again. For my cluster Christmas meal. There were quite a few of us, including a couple who aren't technically part of the cluster-yet. Nineteen in total. Which meant we couldn't all sit together, so there was a fair bit of wandering about; as well as a lot of noise and laughter. And at the end, we got a photo taken of the lot of us-don't we look wonderful.

On Thursday, I went out with Street Teams for the last time this year. It's always a bit strange going out when late night shopping is on, because it kind of feels a bit like we're in the way. I just have to think that we're there whatever; we're not doing it to show off in any way. We go out because people need help and because we can. I had a couple of interesting conversations with a couple who have both come off drugs recently and have no idea of going back-but that's the only point the conversations had in common. One was saying how he couldn't think how he could get a job, and his girlfriend was focussed on the fact that she had hope of something different, a different future. She was really looking forward to Christmas for the first time in years, and also her appointment with a counsellor in January. She said that, for her, drugs were about hiding, and she wasn't going to hide any more.

Friday nothing memorable happened (you know, cos I can't remember it), but Saturday I went to a party. Again with people I hadn't seen for a while-it seems as if that's something of a theme this month. Which is a good thing. Now I just have to keep in touch a bit better as we go into a new year.
And, finally, Sunday. Another party, sort of. It was actually more of a gathering of people, mainly from cluster before we all went to church for the carol service. But it was good fun, and I had the opportunity to have more mulled wine. And then the carol service itself; which was actually really beautiful. And after, I got the chance to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen for a while, which is always good-and plans were amde for the end of the week, maybe.