Providence places some people in our paths for a reason.

In these times that we live in, we meet new people every day,

Not necessarily through the traditional means of meeting people.

The social media, even though it has its downsides,

Has more upsides when it is used in the right manner,

It can serve as a medium of meeting decent people,

And many more advantageous reasons to it as well.

Evaluate your intentions for wanting to connect with other people.

Could it be that you intend to hide behind the impersonal shroud that the sticky web offers?

Or are you willing to take off the mask and let the real you shine through?

In any case, whatever your intents are:

Hold on fast to those friends that you meet and make in your sojourns,

Those friends that make you smile,

Hold on to those friends that make you quake in laughter,

To those friends that make you think twice,

and want to be better than you are,

Hold on to those friends whose wisdom shines through,

Through their sage, twinkly eyes and,

far more than their glinting grey hairs,

Hold on fast to those friends who are in tune with themselves,

Because my friend, it takes a lot to get there.

To friends who can educate you,

Beyond the level that you already know,

Hold on to those friends, with whom you can be the real you,

To those friends who might shake their heads in rebuke,

Because, sometimes even though we don’t like it,

Sometimes, rebuke is a an expression of love.

To those friends who are willing to share from their bounty of wealth,

in their knowledge, in their smiles, in their wisdom, in kind and the likes,

To friends old and new, traditional and modern,

Young in age and old at heart,

Old in age and young at heart,

Just hold on to them all,

Because I tell you my friend, they all have their purpose,

Each and every single one of them.

“The test of friendship is not about those that you have known for ages, but about those who crossed your path and are stuck to your side”.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha