Filling The Friendship Gap

Listen to my prayer, O God. Pay attention to my plea.

“What movie do you want to watch tonight?” Charlotte’s dad said with a smile, holding up two of her favorites.

“Tangled,” Charlotte responded, snuggling into the couch by her dad.

As the opening music swelled, Charlotte’s dad gave her arm a squeeze. “Make any new friends at school today?”

Charlotte shrugged. Moving to a new town in middle school had been hard. She’d had good friends at her previous school, and they couldn’t be replaced in a few days or weeks.

“Don’t worry,” her dad said. “It will come. Just give it time. I’ve been praying you’ll find a few good friends.”

“Me too,” Charlotte said as she leaned against him and smiled. They’d had movie night and special snacks or just hung out for a while every night that week. She could tell he was trying hard to fill the gap for her while she was missing her old friends and hadn’t made new ones yet.

Parents, grandparents, and other mentoring adults fill many roles, and one of them can be that of a friend. Charlotte’s nightly movies with her dad didn’t last too long before she eventually made some good friends at her new school. But his friendship was an answer to her prayer when she was lonely and really needed someone close.

You don’t have to move to a new city to go through a time when you might be lonely and in need of a friend. When you feel that way, you can pray and ask God for a friend (this is a request he loves to answer!), knowing he loves to pay attention to our pleas. We can also seek out others (including trusted adults) to talk with about our desire for a good friend. Just like with Charlotte and her dad, we might find it is an adult friend or family member who fills a void when we are in need of a friend.

Things to Think About

• Have you ever felt lonely and in need of a friend? Have you spent time in prayer asking God for a friend?
• Who is an adult that you could confide in about your loneliness?

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

If you are struggling with friendships, pray about it and then reach out to a trusted adult about your concerns.