"I just don't have time for more friends!"
I'd never heard that phrase uttered until a couple weeks ago. And I heard it not once, but twice, in two separate conversations.
The only friend "cap" I knew of was Facebook's 5,000 friend limit, but apparently peoples' insane schedules are causing them to ration friends.
As a kid I participated in Girl Scouts for one whole month as a Brownie. I asked to stop after I realized they did not have any actual brownies at the Brownie meetings. LIES! Anyhow, before I quit I learned a song that I remember to this day. It went like this:
"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."
The song implies old friends are worth more than new friends, but that new friends still have worth.
Old friends have value because the roots of the friendship have cultivated over time. They have seen you through various life stages. My old friends and I have laughed together, cried together, rejoiced together, torn wall paper off ceilings together (long story), encouraged one another, corrected each other, gone on crazy impromptu life-threatening adventures together, and sometimes sat quietly in the same room staring at the wall together.
Sometimes it is weeks, months or years between visits. But when we reunite it's as if no time has been lost. These friends are not gold. They are worth much more.
At some point, though, each of these old friends was "new." Had I decided to close off my world to new people, I'd have missed out on knowing some amazing friends.
I think what the people who stated the above quote really meant was they didn't have time for anymore superficial human interaction. And I agree that you CAN have too many shallow acquaintances. (I'm looking at you, people with 5,000 Facebook friends.)
Getting to know new people takes time, energy, and doesn't always result in a meaningful friendship. Sometimes you have to wade through some shallow acquaintances, though, to find a true friend. After all, you have to mine for gold.
Friends are a gift from the Lord, and to get caught up in numbers--high or low--is silly. If you have even one true, loyal friend you are blessed. If you have many true, loyal friends, all the better!
Life is busy. But in my experience it never quits being busy. Don't let that be an excuse to stop reaching out. You never know when or where God will use you, and you never know when He may bless you with another friend.
So, introduce yourself to someone new. Invite someone you've continually crossed paths with to lunch. You will not click with everyone, and over time you will get stood up, taken advantage of, and annoyed. But sometimes you click instantly and will have, as Anne puts it in Anne of Green Gables, a kindred spirit.
And you can never have too many kindred spirits.
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
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