Silence...and friendship

Tonight I'm ignoring my phone.  I hit the "pause" button on itunes.  I shut my door.  The only sound I hear is the humming of the furnace (which is reminding me to be grateful for heat on this cold night).

My room is quiet.  I like it that way.  I am a perpetual multi-tasker, something which is usually viewed in a positive light.  "Oh you're such a good multi-tasker" is a compliment!  It isn't rare for me to be texting, listening to music, working on a paper and talking with whichever girl happens to be in my dorm room at the moment.  It feels like in order to make the best use of our time, we have to multi-task.  And yet there are many, many days when I crave solitude and silence.  This happens more so at college than anywhere else.  So...tonight I am relishing this sweet silence, knowing that my opportunity to steal away to a quiet room will soon be gone again.

Today two of my very best friends met me for "lunch"  Jessica and Charity drove an hour and a half south from Michigan and I drove an hour and a half north from Indianapolis.  We met in the small city of Peru, Indiana and spent about two hours sitting at Pizza Hut before moving to Dairy Queen and spending another two hours there!  These are two of the most incredible girls I have ever known!  They are beautiful, intelligent, caring, hilarious and, absolutely the most important, they passionately love their Lord.  Can I just say that I can't WAIT until these two get husbands because they are going to be incredible men and I will be thrilled to meet them! :)  I love friends like Charity and Jess because we don't have to talk all the time...in fact, we all have busy lives and get very few chances to catch up.  But when rare occasions, like today, present themselves, we just right in and get right into the nitty-gritty.  No awkwardness, no need for small talk.  Just three girls who love Jesus  (thus desiring to obey Him fully and completely) and love each other (thus desiring to push each other to Christ and speak Truth).

As we regretfully parted ways at the end of our four-hour long lunch date (I might add that it was not NEARLY long enough!!), I started thinking about what an incredible blessing real friends are.  The Bible has so much to say about companionship and friendship, and it is far beyond Proverbs 17:17!  Psalm One says that the righteous man doesn't heed the counsel of the ungodly. Christians are warned several times in the New Testament to "beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit."  I love how Proverbs says that the wounds of a friend are faithful.  Tonight I am thanking Jesus for blessing me with dear, precious friends!