Adventure in the Desert, and Friendship Lessons

I had a date with a few friends to have coffee in the desert last night. I left early and took the scenic route. I got to the coffee shop early, which I had prepared for by bringing some light reading, Life With Jeeves. So I read as I waited. And I waited and read some more. I read for quite a while. However, I was enjoying the desert breeze and sunset too much to worry about my missing friends. I finally pried myself out of my seat and toddled over to my car to call a friend, the initiator and instigator of this whole shindig. Apparently, everyone in the group was having a family emergency. I could've gone home then. Maybe I should have. But with a blog that is about my adventurous life, I felt an obligation to my readers to have some sort of adventure. So I went driving, driving through the desert, driving until it got very, very dark, and I was alone with the tumbleweeds. I got scared; it was not an unpleasant feeling, though . . . I was enjoying my lostness. I had plenty of solitary time to pray and to reflect on things I've been learning. Eventually, I did get home, after a scary, scary drive on the mangled freeway, and I was glad to get into my soft and cozy bed.

Continuing this theme of travel, Mr. M and I took the day and went to the beach. We had business to take care of, and we also took advantage of the day. One thing we did was to spend some leisure time in a bookstore, which always helps me to think and inspires me to read and to write. Being in the midst of thinking pretty seriously about friendships, I flipped through a book on friendships, and I was interested, but then it occurred to me that friendship doesn't need a book. Friendship should be intuitive to everyone, and especially to Christians. It all boils down to simply being nice. One of the books I saw said that it is very important, if you want people to like you, to show interest in them . . . kinda' reminds me of Philippians 2:4, where Paul instructs us to look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. The book also said that you need to practice forgiveness in order to maintain healthy friendships. The Bible is full of commands regarding forgiving others for their wrongs. I guess that, even valuing friendship as highly as I do, I just don't see the need for a how-to book on the subject.