people need people.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17)

People need people, and that's just that. We can't survive without each other. We need human interaction not just to survive as a race, but to live.

A few years ago my Mom found me huddled in my closet surrounded by neglected school books and crying my eyes out. "Mom, I can't do this!" I whimpered. "I have so much school and no friends! I just don't know what to do." I confessed, with huge tears streaming down my face. I remember how swollen with loneliness my heart was, and it's a feeling I have always hated.

Then, it really had been true. I really did not have a friend I could pour my heart out too. I had lost my best friend a few years before that and had been struggling ever since to find true friendship again.

Now I am almost 18 years old. Since the day I suddenly realized I am almost an adult and nearly finished with high school, a lot has been on my mind. One such thing is friendship. Upon examining my past and present relationships I came to realize a few things.

Lately I've been trying not to spiral down into a dark pit of depression. A lot has happened to me and my family over the past few months in which my friendships and faith were tested. I began feeling like I had no one again, like I was an outsider. It wasn't even until recently I realized how miserable I was being over almost nothing. I wasn't letting anyone in. I wasn't making any new friends because I wasn't trying. Guys, sometimes you have to go up to the person and say, "Hey, how are you?" Instead of waiting for them to come up to you.

You have to let people in. We were not made to sit and wallow in our own troubles and problems. We need someone we can pour our hearts out to, someone we can trust. It will never happen over one conversation though. Friendships take time and effort, something I'm still learning myself. Anything worth something takes time.

Another thing about friendship that has been pressing on me is this: don't let your happiness depend on your friends. Last month I received news one of my only friends at church might be leaving. I cried for hours that day. Part of the tears were because I loved my friend and didn't want to see her go, but most of them were from self pity. I didn't want her to leave, then I'd be alone. I wouldn't have someone I already trusted I could talk to. I would have to start all over again. I was letting my friendship determine how I felt. I realized I was only happy at church when my friend was there. 

Happiness doesn't come from possessions or people, it comes from inside you. But, fellowship and growth comes from people, and those are two very important things.

I know it's hard for some of us to make new friends. We're afraid to open up, that they can't handle how messed I up we are. Well, here's news: we're all messed up. All of us are messy messed up people living in a messy messed up world. But, by God's mercy he had formed our messy selves into something beautiful. Don't say you don't have any friends or talents or beauty. Don't say you're not enough or you can't, because you can. You can go out there and make friends because you need to grow. You do have talents and you are beautiful because you were designed by a perfect and loving Father. 

I want you to get off my blog and your phone or computer  right now and do something for me. I want you to text, email, write, call, talk, or meet with someone, maybe even someone new. It doesn't have to be anything complicated, in fact all it really takes is:

"Hi, I'm _________. What's your name?" 

Who knows, maybe it could be the start of an epic friendship.