Discovering Friendship

"Friendship is about discovering the unknown together with love." -DMTV

This story is long overdue; I have wanted to write this piece since last year. Unfortunately, there is just so much to do and so little time. Today though, I decided to just get on with it. Enjoy reading!

June 2013 and the rest of the months last year brought with it a lot of life lessons for me. It was a time when I finally decided to stop being so in control of my life and start learning to submit to someone else's will - God's. That month too, God allowed me to meet a person who would help me not only in my continuing journey as a Christian but also in my seemingly drab life.

I was at a point in my life where I can say I was experiencing a condition which may be called quarter life crisis -- my career, as great as it looks for most people, was causing me distress; I just wanted a new environment, or maybe I wanted to go back home where it feels more comfortable. I felt so distant from friends and family and worse, I felt that I was just existing, not really living the life I ought to live. Happiness seemed elusive; although to most people, I looked happy and I didn't seem to have problems. I have learned to keep appearances, a skill that a teacher should master. :)

June is my favorite month and last year's June was made special when I decided to join a Singles event at the church (I was avoiding socializing with any crowd; I just felt "antisocial"). It was there that I first met a friend who changed the way I saw a lot of things, including the drabness of my existence. It wasn't until August though that I decided that it's okay to talk to him, seeing that he is "harmless" and he is quite nice.

It would be good to note that I decided to stop being an observer and start getting involved in the ministry - the Singles Ministry. I used my time and talent to serve God through serving His people; it was one of the best decisions I have ever made and I enjoy every moment of it. My new friend and I worked in the same committee; so we often met to discuss plans and it's a joy to work with him and our team (although we don't agree at times, we learned to work together).

Our friendship was built on seemingly endless online chats on Facebook. Here was a guy who chatted with me in perfect English grammar and he asked so many questions (which I enjoyed answering) that sometimes, I had to take time to type up my answers and he would just read them when he went back online. I always though that I have yet to meet a guy who chats on Facebook in complete sentences and paragraphs, but he did just that. I enjoyed our chats so much (I'd like to believe he shares my sentiment) that most of the time, we'd end our conversations at 1:00 or 2:00 am. I didn't mind though and I always looked forward to those chat sessions with my new friend. We talked about anything and everything. It was just great to have met a person who can relate to or tries to relate to everything I ever talk about (I must admit, I am talkative). The best thing about our chats is that it doesn't end in Facebook, whenever we met, we continued our discussions. Most people would peg me as intimidating during the first few meetings; but he didn't seem the least bit intimidated which made it easier to warm up to him. 

He has given me a lot of advices. I've read and listened to his opinions and ideas. Through our conversations, I learned to be less wary of the people God has surrounded me with, I felt more trusting and it was liberating to be a friend (rather than looking for a friend). It's rare for me to find someone who can make me see things differently - I have a stubborn streak and I can be a brat sometimes. Yet, this guy sees things so differently that his ideas always catch me off guard. I just love how he thinks. Parts of our conversations have been part of the advices and inspiring stories I've shared with my friends and it gives me joy that the stories pieced together from our friendship has blessed others as much as we have been a blessing to each other. 

To be continued.

It has been a year and there is a lot more to write about us and how we have journeyed as friends but I wanted to publish this first - an introduction. I hope to be inspired to write more about how our friendship has grown and how we have grown over the last year.