Lisa Whelchel's Book and Thoughts on Religion and Friendship

I decided that I couldn't be a proper Facts groupie without reading some of Lisa Whelchel's books. I'm not sure that her series for moms has much for me, so I'm reading Friendship for Grown-ups: What I Missed & Learned Along the Way. It's good. She and Nancy McKeon are still the closest of friends, although particular matters to do with Facts are not the book's focus. It is a memoir and discussion of something common to us all: friendship.

Friendship was on my mind this morning, so it was fitting that Lisa's book was in the backpack I picked up as I left the house. I've enjoyed it much more than I expected. The way in which she frames her journey and the lessons she learned have their foundation in her Christian faith, but the lessons and comments on friendship are sound and thought-provoking regardless of faith or lack thereof.

I have a rocky relationship with religion. I was born Catholic, but I left the Catholic Church at the age of six because I was uncomfortable with the part of the Missal in which we said, "We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic church." I asked my mom if I had to say that when I didn't really believe it - I believed that everyone who loved God and Jesus were OK even if they did things a slightly different way.