Working together with people with the same mission and vision is the way friendship is often built.
I made friends in college when studying together, working on presentations together, and promoting department events together. My roommate and I were never good friends even though we got along. We didn’t have any common projects to work on together. We were not in the same department, didn’t join the same clubs, and had little common interests. She was a runner. I tried to run with her a few times. But I would turn back when she was so far ahead of me that it was no longer a “together” activity. (I would be taking a nap by the time she came back.)
I made some good friends with other moms when my children were little. Our common mission was raising our kids right. We helped each other, babysat for each other, and shared resources with each other. These are still some of my best friends, going into over 15 years of friendship.
I also made good friends with people I work with at church. Since I go to a small church, I know just about everyone on a friendly basis. But it is with the people that I work with that have become good friends. We see each other’s weaknesses and strengths, and in spite of our weaknesses, we love each other. In working together, sometimes we frustrate one other. I am sure I’ve irritated people with my procrastination, or with my too-many ideas. But this is what true love is all about. This is what church as a Body means.
Relationships take time, working together, living together, laughing and crying together. I am blessed to have some very good friends.