Member-only story

Can Two Walk Together Unless they are Agreed?

Who we choose as friends often defines who we are ourselves

MaryClare StFrancis
7 min readOct 13, 2022
Photo by Antonin Duallia on Unsplash

It’s a question that the prophet Amos asked, and it’s a question I’ve had to answer for myself recently. Another version of the question, the one that interests me, is can people be friends if they have different values and goals?

Recently I’ve evaluated friendships that ended badly, and there ended up being some themes and characteristics in common with all the ones that broke down.

Friendship is based on where we have come from and who we are becoming. There are some values in common, and friends are generally walking in the same direction.

The people I choose to hang around do end up informing who I am.

What is important to them?

For me, spirituality is the most important part of my life, and I enjoy being around people whose spirituality at least meshes with mine in a way that we can be meaningful friends.

Not all of my friendships are based on spirituality, and I have some friends who don’t have any sort of religious beliefs at all. Those friendships are based on other things that are also important to me.

--

--

MaryClare StFrancis
MaryClare StFrancis

Written by MaryClare StFrancis

I write memoir, nonfiction essays, and poetry

No responses yet