Generational Friends is a term I coined to explain some of my family friendships. I don’t mean friends in my family, but friends that encompass an entire family. I guess it is the result of growing up in small churches where we didn’t have all of the groups that seem to be so essential in churches today.
I really don’t need to get off on a tangent here but I must say. . . I do not understand the hang-up people have about needing a church to meet all of their needs. For instance, a youth group, a children’s ministry, a singles ministry, a young married group, a seniors group, etc. etc. etc. How on earth are the older women supposed to minister to the younger ones when they never interact. Besides, what about the idea of what You can do to help the church. To borrow a phrase from President Kennedy, ask not what your church can do for you, but rather, what you can do for your church.
OK. Sorry. That is one of my soap boxes.
Because we didn’t always have the opportunity to have friends in our particular age range, my siblings and I learned to be friends with those much older or younger than us. Some of my best friends have been senior citizens. In another instance I was in my early twenties when I gained a friend in her teens. From that friendship I developed a close friendship with her older sister, her mother, and eventually the entire family.
In the case of another family the friendship started with the parents who are ten years my senior. I babysat their children when I was in nursing school. He was my Pastor. Through the years I went back as often as I could to see them and our friendship grew and continued. I went to graduations and weddings. The funny thing was, once the kids grew up they became my friends too. One went with me to a singles retreat.
Another one, Josh, called and I helped he and his wife and baby Emmy get back to Sheridan to surprise the parents. During that car ride was when the term generational friends was coined. Josh said to me, “Miriam, I bet when Emmy grows up she’ll be your friend to.” I hope so.