Seasonal Relationships

I have a lot of prospects ahead of me. In a week and two days, I'll FEEL graduated (I assume). I'll be done with the MCAT, meeting with my future employer, and finishing up med school secondary applications. My graduation reception will be two weeks after that, and I leave the country a week after THAT.
Depending on some factors, I'm most likely getting my phlebotomy certification rather than EMT, primarily due to a full-time job offer.

Here's what I'm getting frustrated with. PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T GROWN. My friends who went to college, or at least to a school of higher learning, had to leave behind most of their old friend groups and find new ones. Even if some weren't far from home, they may have stayed close with family, but with regard to friendships, they had to leave the old ones behind for a time.

My friends who have grown the least since I left, who were the furthest along before that time, have hardly moved. Their friend groups remained mostly unchanged. They found where they were comfortable and familiar and squatted, so that now, they know nothing else. And they will often speak to me as if they cannot stand to grow distant from someone they've known for so long.

Well, guess what? You become a better person when you can allow relationships to be as seasonal as they are meant to be. 'Cause here's the thing: to grow, you will have to say no, to put relationships on hold, maybe leave friends behind for years.

One of my best friends since junior high is someone I've only had the chance to see a few times a year since he switched schools while we were in high school. We saw each other even less when I went to college. But every time I see him and his family, we can goof around just as easily as we had in the past. To be honest, we don't even usually feel the need to catch up, beyond the update on current school and work. Plus, between Snapchat and other social media, I haven't felt all that distant over the years.

I have another friend that was my accountability partner (not really a practice I feel is all that necessary) through our later high school years, and to grow, to find out why I wanted to be a doctor, to learn to be who I needed to be, I had to go on a medical mission trip to Uganda and miss his wedding. I would have been a groomsman.

To grow as a person, you need to be committed enough in your walk in The Lord Jesus Christ to consider all other relationships as rubbish for His sake, and be willing to go wherever He wants, whenever He wants.

P.S. Don't take this to an extreme. All our human relationships are incredibly important, and can only be minimized when compared to the surpassing importance of your relationship with Christ.