Thankful for Good Friends

I recently got a chance to catch up with some of my closest friends from high school.  We graduated over 20 years ago and yet I still see some of them on a regular basis, when I take my kids to San Jose to see my parents.  Friendship is a treasure, and in this facet of my life I am incredibly rich.

Now that I am a parent, I realize all the more the importance of good friends.  Good, not only in the sense of being close, but also in the sense of being positively influenced by good people.  I'm glad I know most of my kids' friends and their parents, so I can know my kids are hanging with the right crowd.

This too is another cause for gratitude as I think back to my own childhood.  Among my closest dozen or so high school buddies are four current pastors as well as others who are very involved in their churches.  One of my friends was the one who brought me to church and to faith during my teens, and another had tried to a few years before.  All of my friends are smart, kind, and decent.

As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that this is not necessarily the experience of others around me.  It makes me all the more thankful for the abundance of good friends and positive influences in my own life, and all the more prayerful that my kids will be blessed with the same experiences.