I can only imagine

Our Daily Bread
I guess I am excited about going to heaven.  I mean what child of God wouldn't be?  If you remember, I wrote about this topic a few weeks ago.  While I look forward to heaven, I am more concerned about making heaven on earth.  Like the Lord's Prayer says "They kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
Shouldn't that be our main concern instead of day dreaming about what heaven will be like?

Lord, I want to make this world as heavenly as possible.  Please help me to know the things to do to make that happen!

Other Stuff
I have been "cleaning house" when it comes to friendships or people that I thought of or treated as friends.  It is difficult especially when you have invested so much time and energy and sometimes money into the friendships.  There times when the song The Gambler applies -- You gotta know when to fold 'em.  It is a sad time for me since friends are important to me.  Some folks really haven't earned the title of friend, but I treated them that way because I wanted to be their friends so badly (not sure why sometimes!).

I think I push the friendship title at times due to a crush or spending some time with a person that really doesn't share your idea of friendship.  Understand?  I hope so, because I don't!  hehehe  To some folks, their definition of a friend is what I would call an acquaintance.  My friendships tend to be long-lasting.  We can pick up where we left off if we don't get to see each other for a long time.  I had a close friend from college that I reunited with after 29 years.  His wife and children thought we had been best friends our whole lives!  Most folks cannot do that.

My biggest problem the past few years has been holding some people too closely that didn't deserve a special place in my life.  Their commitment to the friendship was not as strong as mine.  Their idea of friendship definitely didn't match up to mine!  The problem is that when the crush is gone or there is no hope of a romantic relationship, the rest of the relationship falls apart for me as well.  These folks are now acquaintances.  They no longer deserve priority in my life.

Yes, this is painful in the short term.  Realizing that this is best for me in the long term keeps me going most of the time.  I get sad about the loss of these "friendships' until I remember to NOT romanticize what we had.  It was not always bad, but it was definitely wasn't as good as what I romanticize about.

The bottom line?  Do you best to accept folks where they are.  I try to do that.  Do your best to live up to your Christian commitment to love folks.  I do that as best I can.  Protect yourself from folks that use you or try to manipulate you or make you feel bad about yourself for being who you are.

Lord, help me be a friend.  Help me be the kind of man you want me to be...