I absolutely love that as human beings we can be connected to one another. There’s something about shared existence and experiences which can unite us across many divides.

What I also love is that our shared experiences and connections are forever embedded in our minds and hearts and that they shape us into who we are.

I just think of the many different people over the years that have been crucial in my development. People, who for varying amounts of time, were given to me as gifts.

This is where quality far outweighs quantity. Length of friendship doesn’t necessarily reflect depth of friendship or connection. There have been people who have been in my life for less than a day, a friend made on a train or a bus or a plane, who have made rich deposits into my life. People I have learnt from and felt a connection to who I am no longer in contact with. And that’s okay, because for those hours we were gifts to one another.

Then there are people who you meet and there’s this instant connection and you know you’ll be lifelong friends. Relationships and connections amaze me. I’m amazed at how you can have a shared experience with someone and be connected for life, but never see each other again. I am also amazed at how no matter how well you got along or how well you connected there will just be those friendships which don’t stick. You lose relationship, life carries on.

Does this mean that your friendship wasn’t valuable? Of course not, because for that time you were gifts to one another. For that time God connected you to learn from one another.

I’m thankful for the people around me. I am thankful for the people whom I connect with once off or on a daily basis. They are gifts to me and I believe that they are in my life for a reason. Whether they’re nice people or not, whether our relationship was pleasant or horrible, they were given to me for a reason. And at the end of the day each relationship or connection has made me who I am today and these relationships will continue to shape me.