“Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble” 
(Proverbs 17:17, MSG).

     It’s been said that longtime friends go long periods of time without speaking and yet never question the friendship. Such friends pick up like they had spoken yesterday. Even better, they seek you out when trouble comes.
 
    My wife and I have been blown away by the people who’ve supported us following the passing of my father-in-law. From cards to emails to Facebook postings, long-term friends shared with us their kind thoughts and prayers. Many made the trek to the calling hours to express in person their love and sympathy.

     Three of our closest friends commented they had lost our contact information since Cathy and I moved to Cincinnati. The truth is that we had not tried to reach out to them either. While both parties acknowledge that life gets in the way, it feels like a flimsy excuse.

     The truth is that we have allowed the tyranny of the urgent to usurp the relationships we value most. An advertisement once coined the problem this way: “Life comes at you fast.” Sadly, we use the busyness of life as an excuse. While it’s true we cannot control the pace of life, we can control the pace at which we live.

     Bring on the fartlek. Fartlek is a Swedish term for speed play. Long-distance runners train themselves by altering their tempo. The premise is to speed up for a period and then ease back to an easy pace for a stretch. Those who practice using the fartlek method claim their mental strength, physical stamina, and mind-body awareness improves over time.

     It seems to me that the fartlek concept can be employed for the purpose of better managing our time, and most especially our relationships. What if each of us were to ease up on the throttle and take just fifteen minutes a day to consider the people who matter most to us? An email. A phone call. A Facebook post. These are simple ways to reach out and reconnect with the people who matter most.

     The fact is relationships require time and intentionality. Those who live out of sight need not live outside of our minds. True friendship never should be taken for granted. Nor should our contact be limited to times of trouble. “Friends love through all kinds of weather” and stick
together in the sunshine or rain.