I am starting to appreciate what it means to have a  friend.  We call so many people in our lives this word, but I think we miss the mark of what true friendship is.  I can’t believe the opportunities that have passed me by in my life because I was not willing to be hurt.  You see what I have learned is that trusting someone means you are willing to allow that person to hurt you.  Now, I know this may seem weird that I am talking about awesome friendships by how you have to allow someone the opportunity to hurt you, but I think that’s what makes it awesome.  For so many years, I would allow people to give me all of their trust and then I would try and control how much of my trust I would give them.  There have been many times in my past that my friendships were manipulated by me.  I can say today that I no longer do that with my friendships.  I have learned to give my friends my complete trust and know that they do have the ability to hurt me and the fact that they don’t means a lot.  It is so nice to see how many people care about what is going in my life and that I care about what is going on in theirs.  I am thankful for those in my life as you should be for those in yours.. Have a Blessed holiday time and know that Christ is Forever.. Selah!