Moving Forward and Onward

Saying farewell to a trusted or respected friend can be a hard moment. Today I had to say goodbye to a colleague of mine who, over the past few years, I am proud to call a friend. Though as life moves forward, so must those around us. As new friends enter our lives, old ones will move in their own direction. If life remained unchanging and predictable, then I suppose it would get boring. The spice of life is the ability for life to be ever chaining. ## The Road Ahead While my friend moves forward to a different job and a new location, the best part of what he will encounter is still to come. I'm not much of a mover, or at least not the type of person who likes to get up and make a massive change in my life. I like to be stable in one location that I'm familiar with. I live near family because I like to be around my family. Yet, I admire people who are able to take such a drastic change and take it on complete faith. God asks us to take leaps of faith all the time. Whether they be small leaps with a portion of our assets that He has bestowed on us, or a large leap to move two-thousand miles for a new job, God wants to spice our lives and make us stand out. He calls us to be seasoned with salt not to be bland, but to be bold for those around us. > Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. > Colossians 4:6 (ESV) > Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. > Mark 9:50 (ESV) ## Salty Sweet I've struggled with the idea for years to be seasoned with salt and what that means. However, God surprises me often by using a real experience to get me thinking about something that has remained on my mind for years. With the recent move of my friend from work, I realize that as we encounter those around us we are called to be different and to affect those around us. The reason that I don't necessarily like to move or change where I am is simple; I don't like to establish new connections. I work really hard to establish the relationships that I live in every day. I don't like to cast people aside as I move forward. Though, if I look back on past relationships most of the loss was due to lack of contact. Over the years I have lost many friends due to lack of contact, and while I remember each relationship, there are days when I wish I could rekindle each one. The possibility to revisit the past may seem tempting, but there are moments when moving forward is as important as remaining behind. When you leave a job you leave co-workers behind, and they in-turn must move forward in their own way. We mustn't remain in the past, but live in the present while running towards the future. While I say good-bye to a good friend, I know that I will at least make an effort to stay in contact, but I also know that the friendship will change to match the distance.