Whenever somebody takes the time to send me a Christmas card and include family photo I always keep it. Over the holidays each time I pass by the photo it's a prompting for me to pray for them. After Christmas the photos get packed away with my Christmas decorations.
Each year as I unpack the decorations and the photos I am reminded of precious friendships and more opportunities to pray.
It's interesting as the years pass by to take note of the depth and the length of friendships. And what those friendships have taught me.
I've been learning in the past two years that sometimes friendships are brief, sometimes they seem like they will go on forever… But then they don't… And then some do. I've also been learning that sometimes they're not meant to go on forever and the brief sweetness can stay with us if we choose to carry it, likewise if there was a bitterness we also have a choice. I've been learning that bitterness is not an option for me and I've been doing a lot of packing...packing up old garbage that somebody tried to make me carry and passing it back to them.
Some friendships are the kind of gift that keeps on giving though. The kind of friend that even though you may not see or even speak to for years you know there's a common thread woven through each others lives… And you know that if you needed that friend you could call.
When I was in the end of my grade 2 year my family moved to the other end of the world so it seemed but it was really just the other side of the city. I was the new girl who hadn't had the chance to get to know everybody and and all the "rules" & even though it was only grade 2 there was clearly a hierarchy that needed to be respected…according to the mean girls. Grade school was never the same for me and for the most part I prefer not to think about it but there was one sweet face in grade school.
A beautiful girl with curly hair, twinkly eyes and the most beautiful smile. She always made me feel as though I belonged. She didn't care what the other girls thought of her if she chose to play with me on the playground or even invite me over for sleepovers. She was the breath of fresh air I needed all the way through grade eight when the bullying became too much. To this day I am so grateful to this wonderful person who chose love and dignity and integrity over popularity.
So this year when I pulled out the decorations, feeling very unsure about how to go about the task of decorating a new house in a new city when I opened the fourth box there beaming back at me was that beautiful familiar smile, reminding me that I have value and I can do this!
Merry Christmas sweet friend. 
-cb
