Friendship and Forgiveness

Don't you think that as adults we should have the whole concept of friendship under control? I mean come on, we all know the rules to being a good friend...we learned them when we were in Kindergarten. I taught children for years how to be good friends to others. You would think that as adults we would have this friendship concept down so well that we wouldn't have to expend any energy toward figuring out what is right and what is so, so wrong.

I just don't understand.

What is the big deal about being nice, showing compassion and a genuine friendship toward others. Christ is our perfect example.

I had an incident happen the Friday before Palm Sunday. It involved three people who I thought were my friends. You know what--not just my friends, but my close friends. I won't go into everything because it would be too painful, but the incident absolutely broke my heart. I felt like I was back in Middle School and totally abandoned and alone.

Of course I returned home and began to pray. Through tears, I prayed and prayed. I have found peace in most of what happened. My prayer is that God use me and this situation for some good.

Now I am expecting these three friends to go on with their lives and perhaps I'll be included...maybe not. I'm ok with either way. If our friendship relationships continue, which I hope that they will, I'm confused about forgiveness. Do I forgive them? I guess I know the answer to that because I already have done that. What about them telling me that they are sorry? Is that important? It seems to be. What if they don't apologize? What if they want me to pretend that horrible night never happened? I just don't know how strong I am. What would Christ do? (nevermind...I know the answer to that question) :) I miss them in my life because with six children and a houseful of responsibilities, I cherished our nights out and especially their friendships. We would only get together about once every two months, but I loved their companionship.


Jesus, I trust in You.

Grant that I may love You always, and then do with me as You will.