Common & Close Friends - Welcoming Wednesdays

My Bosom Friend Sarah (& family)

           Do you remember the moment that you found a new friend because you had something in common.  It usually sounds something like, "What? You too? I also like _______. I thought I was the only one!" I remember that first conversation that I had with my soon-to-be best college friend when we realized that we were both named Sarah Elizabeth. (We didn't know at the time that the name Sarah Elizabeth is one of the most common girl name combos of all times. Now I even have a sister-in-law with my same exact name - Sarah Elizabeth Holmes!)  What we soon found out was that we had many more things in common as well - tastes in clothes, goals, core beliefs, love of dancing, etc. etc.. We are still true "bosom friends."
          One of the best things that we had in common was our group of friends. See friendship love is unlike romantic love. It is not supposed to be jealous. It should welcome other friends to share in the friendship because they only deepen and add more - not take away.  C.S. Lewis explains this better than I can.  He says, "In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights other than my own to show all his facets."  As silly girls, we are often tempted to be jealous about just about everything. Don't leave out others thinking you are helping your really close friendships grow stronger.  When we welcome others into our circle of friends, we are deepening our current relationships, showing God's love to others, as well as being an example and an encouragement for our children to do the same. 
          Including others is an extremely important lesson for our children (especially girls) to learn.  Do you have any ideas about how we can become better at this ourselves or teach our children in this area? I would love to hear what any of my friends say. You see we are friends since we have this common interest in seeing our families grow in Christian character.