12. Make Time for a Friend - It's More Important Than Whatever Else You Planned

Today's post is not the one that I intended when I awoke this morning, but sometimes your priorities have to get shifted when something more important comes along. That's actually the whole point of today's gift - making time for people, whether or not it is convenient. Today I had a lot of homework to do. I did none of it. Part of this is because I chose to do other things with my time. Part of it is because other things required my time, regardless of what I'd scheduled.

Most of us are busy people. Ok, I have to be honest - I laughed when I typed that. Let me rephrase that in the light of truth: Most of us wish to appear to others as busy people. I have no wish to detract from the tasks that are required of us that do indeed take up our time. But let's be honest, we have free time. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that Americans on average spend as much time online [for entertainment] as they do watching television - 13 hours each! That's 26 hours total PER WEEK! Yeah... we're real busy.

Why do I bring all of this up? My 'busy' plans today were interrupted. Not once. Not twice. Three times. I was not in the least annoyed. Why? Because today I had three different people come to me that needed to talk to me. Three different people who had something going on in their life that they needed to share. One of them was great news and needed to process it! The other two unfortunately were not.

Today I was reminded of how important it is to listen to people. To make time for them. To not just let them think that they are a priority to you, but to MAKE them a priority to you. Every single one of us has times where we need to be a priority to someone. How dare we deny that same need from a fellow human being.

Challenge: over the next week, pay attention to those around you - especially your family and friends. Let's stop focusing so much on ourselves and discover how much we can help another person just by being there for them. You want to be considered a great friend? Then act like a great friend.