If we look at it in the right way, every experience in life is an opportunity to learn something new, and every person we meet can potentially teach us something. That means we always need to be open to new experiences so we can grab every chance to learn. And we also need to try and recognise when God’s put someone in our life who can teach us something important. They’ll probably be people who help us keep things in perspective, who aren’t afraid to ask the hard questions (when appropriate) and keep us on track. Solomon said, ‘Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring’ (Proverbs 25:11-12 NLT). When God sends someone to help us, we should try to do these three things: 1) Show our appreciation. Never take others for granted and never forget to say thank you to them. If we have an attitude of ‘I don’t expect appreciation so I don’t give it’ we’ll only end up getting hurt and closing doors to our future. 2) Understand the boundaries. If we find ourselves going to the same person every time we need help, we need to be careful we’re not overloading them and pushing them towards compassion fatigue. Which leads us on to: 3) Do what we can to help those who’ve helped us, and look out for ways to reciprocate. Even if it’s only in a small way, it shows that we respect the person helping us, we understand their needs, and we’re not trying to take advantage of them. God has called us to be a community. A community where we all support each other no matter what. Let’s be a generation who lives this out well.

What Now?
Send a friend a text telling them how much you appreciate their friendship.