Thursday, June 19, 2014

Friendship and Faith

So, I have had two runs in very warm and humid weather since the track workout I wrote about on Tuesday.  I ran 8 miles on Wednesday morning and 4.3 miles this morning.  Nothing fast.  Just steady.  Character buidling as one social media post described it.  Just moving along.  Up to 972 miles.  That keeps me on Missouri Route 42.  Within striking distance of 1000 miles by Sunday.  If I do reach it on Sunday that will be a full week ahead of when I hit 1000 miles last year.  I'll comment more on that over the weekend.

In any case, a social media friend posted #RunWithFaith.  I run with faith.  I use writing about running to ponder my faith.  I use the things I write about to test my faith.  But I don't know how mnay people run with faith. I would love to know if more do.  That is a group I think I would get along well with.  And what does running with faith mean to each of us?

I also had a friend today who asked how do her firends define good friends.  I wrote "Good friends can be comfortable together in silence."  My firend, returned that sometimes words are unnecessary.  I agree with her.  I would actually frame it somewhat differently.  Instead of saying sometimes words are unnecessary, I would say "I know I am really close to a friend when presence is all that is necessary."  That is a much stronger way of saying what I was thinking.

Presence--just being together.
Presence--not worrying about what comes next in the conversation or when it will come next.
Presence--comfort of knowing someone is there.
Presence--not needing anything more than knowing the person is there because I understand the other person cares without the other person having to say anything.
Presence--knowing that there is a feeling of warmth without words.
Presence--listening to the other person break and taking hope and joy in simply sharing life.
Presence--knowing that there is grace to share.

That is what I get from a deep friendship.  There are very few with whom I have that.  And of course it does not mean that conversation isn't important even with the closest of friends.  But the key is that conversation is completely unnecessary.  Especially in the deepest matters.  

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