How did you meet your best friend? How did you become close?
Community is all about relationship. Meeting new people generates community, and community creates friendship. Because of the relationships I have, I trust my friends when I ask their opinion, making a big decision, when I need some positive reinforcement, or when I just need a friend near.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!"
Things I've Learned From Making Friends:
- Be open to anything. You never know how you may meet your new accomplices, or what they might tell you.
- Be there. When they need you to listen, be there. And when you need someone, you'll know right where to go.
- Give undivided attention. You didn't meet to sit on your phones and not socialize. Invest in knowing the person sitting across from you.
- Ask deliberate questions.. And listen! Don't zone out as soon as you ask a question - Show interest in your acquaintance.
- EYE CONTACT! Be intentional about showing someone respect and giving your attention to them. It shows you care what they are saying, and you are not distracted by whatever is around you.
- Push past the awkward. Sometimes you need a good silence during conversation - don't let it scare you away.