friends Archives - Diana Derringer

Strangers are Friends We’ve Never Met

November 9, 2026 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

When my husband and I became a friendship family for international university students, we quickly learned that strangers are friends we’ve never met. Those young people became lifelong family and friends.

Credit for “Strangers are friends we’ve never met” varies.

According to Quote Investigator, Irish poet William Butler Yeats often receives credit for saying, “There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” However, they have not been able to verify that claim. They did find a similar line in Edgar Guest’s 1915 poem, “Faith.” It says, “That strangers are friends that we some day may meet.”

What if everyone welcomed strangers as friends?

What if:

Instead of prejudice, we looked for common traits.
Rather than suspicion, we chose to cooperate.
Instead of fighting, we sought friendship.

Let’s choose this statement’s belief and attitude.

Focus on:

Positives in one another
Possibilities for peace
Hope for a better way to live

Remain friends through thick and thin.

“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth” (3 John 1:5, 8 NIV).

Thanks to Margie Holtzclaw for the suggestion.

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Close-knit

August 4, 2025 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

Do you have a close-knit family or group of friends? Few things in life replace those special relationships. Your roots may have run deep for a long time. Or you may have known one another only briefly. Either way, you can depend on one another.

Close-knit means a close relationship.

Your ties to one another may result from shared:

Family
Friends
Culture
Interests

Whatever holds you together stays strong.

Time or distance don’t reduce your close-knit commitment.

You remain ready to move heaven and earth for one another at a moment’s notice. Just call, and help is on the way.

That’s the kind of relationship everyone needs.

You never have to wonder. You never have to worry. If you need them, they will be there.

God offers a never-failing close-knit relationship to everyone.

People have limits. God has none. If you want the best of the best, turn to God. God will never leave you alone.

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18 NIV).

Thanks to Beckham Wilson for the suggestion.

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Potluck

February 27, 2023 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

Do you enjoy potluck meals? If you grew up in a large extended family like I did, you understand potluck. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends from everywhere bring food. Lots of food. Stick to your ribs food.

Attend church potlucks, and you get a little taste of heaven on earth. Dishes that weigh down tables, plus fellowship with other believers, fill both body and soul.

Friends, co-workers, and neighbors also create great potlucks. Food and fun abound.

Potlucks may be inside, outside, or on a hillside. We once invited neighbors to a potluck picnic on top of the hill behind our house. A farm wagon served as our table. Everyone enjoyed the scenery as well as multiple plates of country cooking.

Potluck refers to a shared meal with dishes brought by those who attend.

You bring whatever dish you desire. Although unplanned, the meal usually includes plenty of everything. No one stresses, because the meal is casual and everyone helps.

Potluck (sometimes written as pot luck) means to take a chance on an uncertain outcome.

Of course, if you attend a potluck meal, you take your chances on what you get to eat. However, this also refers to other unknowns, including:

Shopping
Travel
Work
Any situation with little information but high hopes

You have one certain outcome available to you.

If you trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, you never have to guess. You never have to face unknowns alone. Plus, God has planned a banquet for you and other believers in heaven.

“Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 14:15 NIV).

Thanks to Brad Leverett for the suggestion. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

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On the Right Track

August 1, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 9 comments

When we ride a train, we want to get on the right track. We never get where we want to go if we go the wrong direction.

If I visit other countries with friends, we always stay close together when entering or exiting trains. We don’t want to arrive at the wrong destination alone.

On the right track means we will probably succeed.

This applies to travel. It also applies to life, when we head the right direction.

On the right track relates to both our thoughts and actions.

What we think usually guides our behavior. In order to find and follow the right direction, we want to choose the right:

Friends
Mentors
Teachers

We also want to research and think for ourselves. Any of us can be wrong at times, like a dog that barks up the wrong tree. Therefore, let’s obtain all the information we can rather than simply follow the crowd.

May we always make wise choices.

That way, we have no regrets when we reach the end of the road.

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11 NIV).

Thanks to Ann Maniscalco for the suggestion.

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Friends Through Thick and Thin

May 14, 2013 Diana Derringer Comments 5 comments

Personal acquaintances and online friends may number in the hundreds or more. We can probably count true friends with the fingers on one hand.

Most people love us when we treat them well. But what happens when we’re mean, stubborn, hateful, and unloving? Friends look for the reason behind the behavior. They know we all have bad days. They keep on loving us.

At the same time, friends won’t let us get away with bad behavior forever. Eventually they challenge us to change. They know we can misinterpret and reject their care. In spite of that, they do what’s best for us.

True friends, friends through thick and thin, will:

give unconditional love.
confront negative behavior.
stay with us in all life’s ups and downs.

That’s the kind of friend I desire. That’s the kind of friend I want to be.

“A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17 NIV).

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