Ways To Give

Making a List

Written by Doris Douma Born

I recommend making a list.  I’m not talking about Santa’s list of naughty and nice. The list I’m referring to is a friendship list.

Yesterday I had a great conversation with an old friend.  Although I have many years on her, she’s an ‘old friend’ because our friendship is an old one.  Years old.  We’ve enjoyed many conversations, prayer times and shared experiences in work and life.  She watched my family grow up and laughed at their funny stories.  She house-sat, babysat and just sat on my couch with me while we enjoyed a cup of coffee.  I’ve watched her grow up, get married and now I’m getting a kick out of the stories about her children.

“One of my friends had a brilliant idea,” she said on the phone yesterday.  “A couple of years ago, she made a list of all the people that she didn’t want to lose contact with. I made her list”.  She laughed.  I was awestruck.

I’m a list person. I write out my ‘To-Do’ list and then derive great joy from checking off the completed tasks.  In fact, if I do something that is not on the list, I’ll even jot-it-down just so I can check-it-off! You list- people out there know exactly what I’m talking about.  So a friendship list was a merger of two great things: lists and friendships.

I love the concept of recognizing those who are important to you and then being intentional in maintaining those friendships. Friendships are important.  We are not meant to walk this road of life alone.  These lists may change.  Throughout our life we are continually meeting people and as a wise friend once told me, “friendships can be for a reason, for a season or for a life-time”.

The Christmas season is a great time to reconnect with friends and to create new friendships. So make a list.  Who are the people in your life that you don’t want to lose connection with?  Make a list including names of people that could act as mentors in your life, or people that you could be a mentor to. List family friends, couple friends and those ‘inner circle of my life’ friends. Life is busy and always changing.  In order to hold onto friendships and to make them grow it is like anything else that is rewarding – it takes time and effort.  We need to be intentional.  And being intentional is what list-making is all about.

Making a list, checking it twice. Now you’ve got that annoying tune stuck in your head for the next couple hours!  Yup – I can be naughty and nice.

Read More
Helping friends through an unwanted divorce
Authentic friendship
Involving your friends in Christmas

Originally posted on dorisdoumaborn.wordpress.com . Used with permission.

Tags: Christmas, commitment, communication, doris douma, Experience, Family, FamilyLife Canada, friends, friendship, healthy marriage, husbands, lists, priorities, protecting your marriage, relationships, wives

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