Every time I have been betrayed or let down in my life it has been by a familiar face. I have never been hurt by someone I didn’t know. I’ve never felt pain at the hands of a stranger, but sometimes I’ve looked into the eyes of those that I loved and saw eyes that I didn’t recognize. There may come a time when the ones you thought you knew, fooled you with a familiar looking outer appearance. We define strangers as people we don’t know, people who we wouldn’t recognize, but what happens when the ones we do recognize, and the people who are familiar in our lives, start acting like strangers?
There is no greater disappointment then when a hand you have shaken, a mouth you have fed, or a face that has cried on your shoulder looks the same, but starts to act differently. You see them and want to greet them the excited way you usually would have but you know that that is no longer the case. Sometimes the ones you would move mountains for wouldn’t do the same for you.
The inability of someone to be a friend has no reflection on your worth, if anything it is a great reflection on the kind of selfless friend you are. When you come to a realization that a relationship has changed or that things just aren’t the same between you and a friend, family member, significant other, co-worker, etc. you don’t have to panic and feel as though you have failed at seeing the true colors of those around you. This person was in your life for just a season, to get you through one place and to the next phase in your life. Often times we have transitional people in our lives that are there for us through a season of change, but aren’t meant to stay and that’s okay.
Life is constant change; you never know what’s around the corner. New opportunities and life changes will occur and unfortunately you can’t bring everyone along for the ride. Whether it is you who felt the need to make the change of cutting off the relationship or them, just know that it isn’t without greater purpose. The worst thing you can do is fight your destiny and decide that you know better, because very often we have blinders on. In the midst of emotional turmoil or hurt feelings we don’t think or see clearly.
Don’t fight change, because it will occur whether you fight it or not, the only choice you have is to let it happen or fight it and end up an exhausted version of a person you don’t want to be. Every phase of your life will bring new people and new opportunities. Losing people is not a sign of being a bad person or a bad friend, it is often a sign of growth and change in a direction that not all others are ready to go in yet. Go in that direction anyways and don’t apologize for it. Let life happen for you, not to you.
