Friendship: Part Two

“Reindeer are better than people,” Kristoff sang to his best friend (and reindeer) Sven. (If you have not seen the movie “Frozen”, you might want to google this fun song as long as you know it will still be in your head in three days.)

If reindeer are better than people, I have wondered if books are better than people. “Bo-oks are better than people,” is not quite as smooth.

And yet, books are among my top five loves. A book whisks me into adventures, teaches me new things, places me in someone else’s shoes, and welcomes my company at all times. A book makes me guffaw and also gives me permission to cry. I can get angry at a book and it will still be there tomorrow.

Because I love books so much, over the years this introvert has occasionally chosen the safety of their pages instead of a human friend. Friendship was easy for me until after I had kids. After that, time and energy are much more sparse. Choices of stewardship are made with the limited time and energy not expended on marriage and little people. Looking back, I often chose books over people.

Books are safer because I don’t have to go to the trouble of arranging a time to meet them; I don’t have to wonder if I’m clever or interesting enough; I don’t have to risk all the risks that accompany a relationship like friendship.

Kristoff did change his tune as the movie unfolds, and so have I. Reindeer and people are both quite wonderful, and people can be better than books (although books remain in my top five).

Indeed, it takes more effort to foster a friendship than crack open a book. Yet the time I spend with a friend over coffee or walking down a path somehow brings me more joy. (If you are an extrovert who gains energy being with people that will not surprise you. But I am not that and so it does. )

Perhaps spending time with a friend offers the en-fleshed reminder a book cannot give, that we are humans meant to drink coffee and walk down paths alone and also with another human. Humans, in our best moments, tend to understand one another. With smiles and sad eyes and resounding laughter an inaudible book cannot express.

Thank you, Jesus, for books, coffee, walks, and especially for friends. Amen.