I am a little frustrated with my friendships (or lack of friendships) these days. What happened to those strong bonds I used to have? I feel like I am always the one making the effort, and it can be so draining! Why have friends when you can’t ever depend on them?

In my young adult life I have had spurts of friendships where you can always count on that person, but that never seems to last more than six months. Life always seems to get in the way… Someone becomes a workaholic and doesn’t make time for you anymore, or someone is just so wrapped up in her own head that she can’t even contact you when she is in the same town that you live in…

Last night at my small group, we were talking about things that we hold onto that keep us from drawing closer to the Lord. I don’t think God wants me to throw my friends away, especially if there is positive influence on my life. God works through us in our friendships, whether the other is a believer or not.

But I feel like I keep getting burned over and over again, and in the past I have allowed them back into my life with ease. (Now don’t get me wrong. I recall several times and instances where I have hurt a girlfriend, and have had to repent and ask for forgiveness. So I ain’t no saint!) But as I have grown older, I have realized how important friendships are, and how much humans feed from them. But I suppose that I need to be more careful of guarding my heart, not only with male-female relationships, but with female-female relationships. When I was a teenager, our Sunday school teacher always talked about guarding our hearts when we had boyfriends. But what about our friends? In my opinion, guarding our hearts with our friends is just as important, because you can get hurt whether it is romantic or not.