Friends, how many of us have them?

I am so blessed to have a few close friends. I have never had droves and droves of friends. At first that would bother me when I noticed that my friends had lots of friends and I only had a few. But then I realized that quality does not matter but quantity friendships do. So I must say I value all my current friendships. It is important to constantly evaluate your friendships.
I have a new set of friends that I met through my graduate studies. They have been such a blessing to me and it is because of them and their individual friendships that we have established that I am still progressing through the program. Love you all! Anyway, some of us went to dinner the other day. One friend was sharing some wisdom that stuck with me. She said that life is about levels. We all should work on getting to the next level. But some friendships will not make it to the next level. This is so true. People come into our lives for seasons. The worst thing you can do is try to hold onto people outside of their season. They will only die on you like a plant out of its season. All your friendships should deposit into your life just as much as they withdraw. Otherwise the friendship will be unbalanced and you will be doing all the giving, calling, supporting, and uplifting when you need the same things as well.

When evaluating your friends, keep in mind you need different types of friends in order to be well rounded. My pastor taught one time, “If everyone in your crew is on your level, then you aren’t growing, you are just having fun. Don’t trade growth for fun”. Don’t get me wrong, you need a couple of “Fun” friends, but you need “Growth” friends as well. You need friends who push you to be better. You need friends who believe in you. You need a friend to pull your head out of the clouds too, but they should not kill all your dreams. ---side note: check a friend who always talks you out of every dream you share with them—when was the last time they dreamed? – your dreaming takes them out of their comfort zone and now they have to see why they aren’t dreaming for better things as well. You need friends who are risk takers, entrepreneurs, creative, and spiritual.

Limit your interactions, even with family, if they are always negative. If they can’t see the positive in any situation, then they will most likely convince you to view the situation the same. This person’s outlook is always bad or worst; they will only bring you down. Too much negativity is not good for you. You want to be around optimistic people, who can find something good no matter how dim the situation looks. You find out you have an unusual check up and they immediately say its cancer or that’s going to be bad. That is not a person that you need to spend a lot of time with because before you know it, you will start to think just like them. You will always think the worst and that things can’t get better. I have made up excuses to get off the phone with people, when I felt the conversation was going to be all negative and their mind was made up. I can allow my friends to have pity parties but I will decline my invite and/or the surprise party. I have too much going for me, God has been too good to me for me to sit around and only think negatively. I believe that God has many other great things in store for me. We have to be careful with our thoughts because they can manifest themselves into realities.

Ok. I really hate forwards (emails, texts). But this one was really great, so I wanted to share.

God doesn't give you the people you want, He gives you the people you NEED - To help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you and to make you into the person you were meant to be. Dear God: The lady reading this is beautiful, classy and strong, and I love her. Help her live her life to the fullest. Please promote her and cause her to excel above her expectations. Help her shine in the darkest places where it is impossible to love. Protect her at all times, lift her up when she needs you the most, and let her know when she walks with you, She will always be safe. Now you're on the clock! In 9 minutes something will make you happy. But you have to tell 9 sisters you love them, including me. Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Of course, I do not push forwarding this to 9 people or you will be doomed, but if you were inspired then inspire someone else.

Love ya,
Olivia

p.s. sorry took so long, last week was CRAZY, BUT God will give me a better week!