Face-to-face Friendship

Face-to-Face Friendship

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.

Proverbs 17:17

I love sitting around with older people as they share stories. I imagine if I were to sit down with Amish siblings, I’d hear stories like this one, shared in Andy Yoder’s book Amish Boyhood Echoes.

At times, if we knew we weren’t going anywhere on Sunday, we would skip the Saturday night bath and do it the next day. One such Sunday was exceptionally cold so we closed the door between the kitchen and living room and bathed in the kitchen. The kitchen stove was kept going and in between bathers, we’d get someone to help put the tub back up on the stove. The next guy in line would wait until the water was good and warm, then get someone to help lift it off again. When it got to be Felty’s turn, he went out to check the water, but didn’t ask for help with the tub. After awhile he was sitting in the living room eating peanuts so Mom asked him why he didn’t bathe. Felty said he’d done so already, so Mom asked who had helped him with the tub. Felty said he didn’t need help, he just saw the tub was on the stove and figured that was where everybody had bathed, so he just climbed up there and bathed too.

There is nothing better than face-to-face time for reminiscing about life! In our society, through the use of social media, we have many “friends,” but no technology can substitute for time spent together. Amish carve out time to spend with friends. Women gather for sewing and baking circles. They invite friends into their homes and travel to go visiting. It reminds me of this biblical example of friendship: “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. . . . Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, 12).

Do you have a friend you haven’t seen in a while? Take time to get together and enjoy the stories you share and the new memories that you’ll make.

Dear heavenly Father, sometimes I feel lonely, and I know it’s because I don’t take time for friends as I should. Help me, Lord, to enjoy face-to-face relationships.