There are always things we wish we could tell our friends, but maybe the right opportunity hasn’t presented itself. Maybe there were too many people around or the thought comes a little too late. Whatever the case may be, there’s always going to be words of encouragement that we wish we could breathe life into amongst our friends. Over the years, I’ve had some friends come in and out of my life and ones that have stuck around. Regardless of how long I’ve known you for, there are some things I would like to know.
1.) I believe in you.
I know I don’t say this enough, but it’s true. You have these goals and aspirations that may seem lofty and far from reach (even you admit it from time to time) but I want you to continue to pursue them. Don’t settle and don’t quit on yourself. I love hearing you talk about the goals that you have for yourself when your eyes get wide. Your passion shines through in these moments and I want to encourage you to keep going. Moments of adversity will find you, but I've seen you overcome them before and you'll overcome the ones ahead of you in the future. You've got this.
2.) I’m here for you.
Life is busy and we don’t talk as much as we should. In this day and age, we are supposedly “more connected than ever,” but I don’t think that is the case. As much as I’d like to think that it is, we don’t hang out like we say we will. That “we should grab coffee sometime,” text is like the modern day version of us writing in each other’s yearbooks that we need to hang out more this summer. And it’s not a blame game that I want to start. It’s me not contacting you and you not contacting me. It’s the craziness of life that keeps us from intentionally finding the time to see each other and spend time together. With that being said, I want to hear the good news that you have and I’ll be there for you when hard times find you as well. Phone calls are still a thing and I promise that you’re not bothering me if you call me. It doesn’t matter if it’s 6am or midnight. If you’re my friend, I’ll pick it up. (But if it’s between midnight and 4am, you better have a pretty darn good reason.)
3.) I care about your faith.
I want to know how you’re journey with God is going. It’s easy during this time of our lives to put God on the backburner and just focus on our careers or our love life, but I want to know what I can be praying about for you. I want to know what’s been eating away at you this past week and how your faith might help you through that situation. I want you to know that it’s okay to grow frustrated with your faith at times because I’ve been there too. Life doesn’t magically get easier when following Jesus, but it’s more fulfilling when we do. Let’s go to church together sometime and grab coffee afterwards..for real.
4.) Thank you.
Thank you for being someone that I’m able to call my friend. Thank you for the memories that we have together because I think about them often. Thank you for the nights spent together with no plans and for the days that we had too much planned, but we somehow managed to survive. Thank you for being someone that I can lean on and go to. Thank you for keeping me motivated when I don’t feel that I can do much more. Thank you for holding me accountable. Thank you for roasting me because it helps keep me humble and in check. Thank you for the friend that you are and for the friend that you will be in the years to come.
I don’t tell you these things as often as I should and I appreciate you more than you'll ever know.
- Dalton Hessel