I was in the ninth grade in high school and there was a girl
that lived next door to us named Connie. We went to the same school, but many
days Connie would just stay home. She wasn’t forced to go to school, and she
took advantage of it.
I didn’t know her that well because they had recently moved in, but one day she invited me to walk with her to the bus stop. So, I did. When we were dropped off at school, she invited me to skip first period class with her and hang out in the ladies’ room. So, I did. Study Hall was my first period class, so I didn’t think it was a big deal.
While we were playing hooky in the restroom, the school principal burst in and took us to his office. We were expelled from school on a parent/principal conference. That meant that we could not report to class unless our parents came with us to meet with the principal first.
My mother had just had surgery and was still recovering. She walked bent over in pain because she still had the stitches. But she came with me to meet with the principal because he would not take no for an answer.
I don’t know how long they lived next door to us, but after that I had nothing to do with Connie even if we walked right past each other. I let her lead me down the wrong path and lived to regret it. I’ve had other friends since then that also proved to be a bad idea. We are encouraged in the book of Proverbs to be careful about the friends we choose.
Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man do not go. Prov. 22:24
As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Prov. 27:17
The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the
way of the wicked leads them astray. Prov. 12:26
I stumbled across Proverbs 12:26 this morning and thought about Connie. I forgive Connie and let her off the hook. Connie had a sister that everybody called Sister. She and I became friends, and hung out with each other everyday at school. Sister never asked me to skip class with her and she never skipped class herself. I came to appreciate the friendship and had no regrets as we both moved on in life.
I learned to be careful of how I let others influence my decisions.
At my last church, I experienced some unfortunate disappointments that left me somewhat broken. After seven years, I figured it’s time to be moving on from that. God has healed my brokenness and I need to let everybody off the hook and seek out new church friends. Closing chapters. Turning pages. Moving on.