In our digital world, Facebook has tried to redefine what it means to be a friend, even when we didn\u2019t think it did. There are certain levels of friendships we can have with people, and while there are no real hard and fast thresholds for each level, there is certainly distinction between the ways in which we share our lives with them. If we\u2019re not careful, good friends can easily transition into only people we keep up with on social media, and we have to be honest when looking at the limitations of knowing someone only through the limited scope of these mediums.<\/p>\n
\u201cFaithful friends are a sturdy shelter;<\/p>\n
whoever finds one finds a treasure.<\/p>\n
Faithful friends are beyond price,<\/p>\n
no amount can balance their worth.<\/p>\n
Faithful friends are life-saving medicine;<\/p>\n
those who fear God will find them.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Sirach 6:14-16<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Take a Risk<\/h3>\n
Over the past few years, I\u2019ve had several conversations with young adults that find it very difficult to make good friends outside of school and early in their career. Friendship won\u2019t just happen, it will take effort and work. In many ways, it takes as much work as dating, so you have to get out there. A great option is to join a ministry directed for young adults, go to meetups you find with people of common interest, and try new things.<\/p>\n
One of the best ways to find friends is to focus much of your energy on following Christ and where He is leading you. The more time you spend doing that, then you will usually start to recognize others around you that are nearby on a similar path. Look around and then start talking.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a learning process, and it will work out with some and not with others. We all wish we could have as close of friendships as the many groups we see in sitcoms and movies, but that doesn\u2019t happen overnight. If you\u2019re feeling like friends are hard to find these days, ask Jesus for some help, and then act upon the promptings He gives you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you are in school it is easy to meet other people with similar perspectives and interests because the educational systems categorize and do the grouping for you. For most of us, it’s so natural that we miss how easy it makes it to begin friendships. Once you leave school, making friends is a very… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[91],"tags":[1985,2473,1379,173,2886,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-50856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-young-adult","7":"tag-amigos","8":"tag-beliefs","9":"tag-christianity","10":"tag-college","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-friendship","13":"entry","14":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":458377,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/masculine-spirituality-thrives-brotherhood\/","url_meta":{"origin":50856,"position":0},"title":"Masculine Spirituality Thrives in Brotherhood","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"August 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Adult men often have a difficult time making friends. It's easy to have passive relationships with coworkers, guys at the gym, or even at church, but intentional friendship takes work. This is true for both men and women, but my focus here will be particular to men. 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Sorry gentlemen.) My friend and I's \"Girl Code\" from the third grade probably contained the following nuggets of wisdom: Boys have cooties. Stay away from them unless you've got your cootie shot.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6879,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/11\/young-adults-and-the-parish\/","url_meta":{"origin":50856,"position":2},"title":"Young Adults and the Parish","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"November 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking back on my childhood, I am very grateful for the role that our parish had in my life. We prayed together, and we played together. Outside of school, the parish was everything to me and my family. That community consists of only a couple hundred families and is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/parish.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46111,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/engagement-taught-single-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":50856,"position":3},"title":"What Engagement Taught Me About Single Life","author":"Britt Echtenkamp","date":"April 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was single and all of my close friends were single, life was pretty great. We stayed up watching movies, talking, or going out dancing. We had girls night all the time, talked about boys, and attended as many Catholic happy-hours that we could manage, always looking out for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3131,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2011\/07\/falling-and-fighting-the-struggle-for-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":50856,"position":4},"title":"Falling and Fighting – The Struggle for Christ","author":"Sam Farias","date":"July 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a Catholic school kid my entire life. A fact that has provided me with a number of opportunities that many people didn't get growing up. I had the opportunity to learn about my faith in school, to share my faith with all my friends and teachers, to pray\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fallen Cross","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Fallen-Cross-300x255.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":41780,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/09\/tips-high-school-seniors-heck-high-school-ers-general\/","url_meta":{"origin":50856,"position":5},"title":"Tips For High School Seniors, Heck, High School-ers in General","author":"Joshua Villarreal","date":"September 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's like they always say, retrospective is always twenty-twenty. The ever-celebrated high school senior year is an incredibly emotion filled time period. The stress of college applications, trying to figure out what career you want to do, and how you interact with friends and relationships in this last year of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Youth"","block_context":{"text":"Youth","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/youth\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Most likely you aren't experiencing this type of graduation I just thought it'd be mildly amusing to insert it into the post. 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![\"Making](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/MakingFriendsAsAYoungAdult-550x366.jpg?resize=550%2C366\")
<\/p>\n