And why it actually is!
4 months or 4 years. Both are long enough to avoid connections… both are long enough to make them!
Do you tend to think “what’s the point?” When you think you’ll be at a duty station too short a time to make friends? Do you ever leave regretting not making friends?
Here’s some things I like to think about when I’m tempted to look at the moving date instead of my neighbor next door!
▪️I might not make a life long friend, but I might make a friend for THIS season. Friendships can feel / be different in different seasons.
The girl next door might not become your ride or die.. but maybe she’ll be you’re
“late afternoon, backyard pool with the toddlers or die”… kind of friend.
Or maybe you’re “meet me at the gym” friend.
Or maybe your “pray for me friend” or
“I’ll bring you coffee while your husbands in the field” friend.
I’ve had few people who are all of those in one but I’m grateful I’ve had them all!
▪️The military is unpredictable… it might only be 4 months but we all know things can change in the blink of an eye… maybe at the end of those months you find out you’re staying… you’ve missed quality time!
▪️We will probably meet again! It’s really a small community with a select amount of cities you can be placed… the likelihood of running into someone again down the road is pretty good. The investment I make NOW could mean a world of difference when I’m the new girl in 3 years at the new duty station and that one connection I made can help me feel not alone!
▪️As believer’s, we need each other’s stories: “But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.” Hebrews 3:13-14 CSB
Nice article which gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
Maybe I’ll try to make more friends from now on, even though I don’t make friends easily.
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