Vanishing, Continuing…

These two novice monks moving through the meditation hall between their studies at a Theravada Buddhist monastery in Myanmar capture the essence of childhood friendships. We don’t know if their shared passions and interests will burn at low-heat like embers for decades, or fan into flames—if sudden ventilation in their relationship enters—and after a period of intense heat, their bonds reach a natural, pinnacle temperature and expire, return to dust, conclude.

I find this precious, precarious state of being to be ok. Friendships are like rubber bands and come in different forms. Some are intense and brief; others stretch and last forever as two people find space to sit together upon the hot coals of transformation, pain, growth, and change.

As for me, I am increasingly aware of my time on this planet and using it well. I seek relationships that stretch and reach for high purpose: to grow and learn, to expand during periods of independence, and to reveal depth and glorious truths during episodes of intimacy. I’m not here to avoid. I’m here to soak up opportunities to learn, to better observe myself and the people around me, to address hangups, and to develop new behaviors. Time is always simultaneously vanishing and continuing. Revel in the vulnerability, discomfort, joy, closeness, remembrance, release, and honor of friendships past, present, and future.