Friendship

Friendship (2)

Still musing over why friendship is important to us all and might share a little more at the breakfast on the 25th.  Here are a few thoughts.

We seem to be hard-wired to be relational beings.  Friends, family, social groups, wider society all illustrate how life is made up of connections and relationships. Can you imagine life without personal interaction and meaningful relationships - sounds like hell!

Friendships bring us many things - here's a few:

• We learn from each other

• We mature

• We enjoy life

• We find expressions of love

• ....... you can add your own in a post below

At any one time, I guess we're all to some degree or other both giving and receiving through our friendships. The depth of these friendships is to a large extent determined by ourselves - our attitudes and actions.  Three questions come to mind as I ponder this:

1. Am I prepared to share myself with others?
2. Can I humble myself enough to receive from others?
3. Will I give a little time and energy to befriend someone else?

Sure you'll have your own thoughts to share - post below if you feel able to.

Friendship (1)

We had a good time at our first event last week in the Royal Oak - food was good and conversations flowed!  Towards the end, I opened a discussion about the purpose of the events and the practicalities of running them.  One of the practical points was not to put both of the mid-week events events on a Thursday - next quarter we'll try a Wednesday.

On purpose, I set out my own thoughts and talked about friendship being at the core of the events.  What we do or what happens isn't an end in itself - not just a good night out with an entertaining speaker.  The hope is (at least my hope would be) that we create opportunities for friendship to form and be strengthened.

Where men gather in a relaxed atmosphere, there'll be banter, jokes and laughter - and we need that (a real belly laugh is as good as many a medicine!)  But if it stops there, our relationships tend to be shallow and lack meaning.

We all have (or once had) a friend who we appreciate for lots of different reasons. Our best and closest friends tend to have walked through life's ups and downs with us and are trusted with some of inmost thoughts and feelings. We learn much from each other and keep each other alert and alive when it comes to matters of faith, hope and love. 

We continue to need 'good mates' to give out to, as well as receive from. Radcliffe Men's Events can be an opportunity to make and strengthen such friendships.

Feel free to add a comment (below) to this post with your own thoughts, or even your own valued experiences.