like a sweet sunset in georgia, let it go…

life changes. and the constant ebbs and flows of this journey are not always evident until we stop to reflect.  and that’s where i find myself currently. in a state of reflection. of friendships. of family. of career choices. of education. of location. of what it truly means to be completely content and joyful. of everything. and i’ve come to conclude a great deal about this thing we call life in the past several months. and of the things i have come to learn is how true it is that change is the only constant in our lives. and i guess i’m just having some emotional difficulty in the reality of some of these changes.  particularly in the realm of friendships.

relationships are a baffling thing. the give and take of these friendships requires such effort on the part of each individual involved.  depending on the level of that effort, the level of these relationships change over time. and the way the relationship starts is not always how it remains, evolves, or ends.  i mean, think about it. day one. you meet and make a snap judgement of that person. and that is either confirmed or denied through the subsequent interactions.  and then those people fall into one of a few categories of friends. i’ll spare you the list as i know you can place them in your mind yourself. and as we know all too well, these people won’t always be a part of your life however.  and this isn’t always a bad thing. but it’s not always an  easy thing either. people come and go in your life and some friends are merely there for a season. and while some times these friendships simply fade away with happy memories tucked neatly away in photographs, with no hard feelings and fond emotion upon remembrance, others do not. some times these friendships end with an eruption of stances and a multitude of emotions, and the pieces never seem to quite fit back together the same again. and yet others do neither of these things. one person fights for the longevity, and the other’s flame has grown weak. weak from too much effort needed or purely a lack of care.  these are the ones that are the most difficult to adjust to. and to let go of.

if it’s one thing i’ve learned however from the multitudes of these relationships as i grow older, is that each one is for a purpose.  each one is an opportunity to learn. to discovery something not only about the other person, but about yourself. about what you value. about what you believe in. and what you stand for.  every friendship gives you chance to grow.  the other thing i’ve come to realize is that it’s time to let some of those seasons change. to let those friendships fade into the horizon with the time and distance that has stretched them so thin to begin with. and to be ok with that. also it’s time to fight for those friendships that have been such a blessing in my life. and most importantly, it’s time to know the difference in the two.

in pondering over all of these things, i’ve developed an even greater appreciation for those people in my life that are continually by my side through the seasons of this journey.  i can only hope that i have made even the slightest sliver of an impact on these individuals as they have made on me. i am incredibly blessed by each and every one of them and couldn’t be more thankfully for their presence in my life.