Friends to the End

Chuck Swindoll says, "I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun."

I wholeheartedly agree. 

I believe that God placed in our hearts and minds a spot that only a true friend can fit in. I am not discounting husbands as our friends. However, the friendship of women is a need we all have. We "get" each other. We can feel what the other one is feeling without having to say it.  We are connected.

Women talk. We can go back and forth from conversation to conversation, again and again, and still find something new in it.  Women are fiercely protective of each other when it comes to one of ours being hurt.  We can sit and be quiet or talk so much and so loud no one can stand to be in the room with us. 

From a table in the back of a coffee shop that is reeling with laughter, to a car ride that turns into the grand adventure, you can find girlfriends doing what they know to do: communicating.  We do our best communicating when we run together, and figure out where the day went wrong. When we are pushing strollers or just taking a walk around the practice field. When something tragic is going on in our lives to the birth of a new idea, women need to talk it through. 

                                         And if it involves coffee and cupcakes, that's a bonus.

Girlfriends are vital for women. These friendships are who we find our "getaway" moments with. 

It's a girls night out/shopping day mentality.

                                            

It's the moments of planning birthdays, going to church,

or simply having fun.

We need these moments. We need the girlfriends. 

They are the ones who:

Listen to our stories

When we crack jokes, they laugh

Loan us good books

Show up at our house with Starbucks

Hold our arms up, when we can't

Shower us with grace, sometimes unmeasured

Don't compare us to each other

Don't compare our children to each other

Cheer us on when we  cannot do it for ourselves

Tell us that we "can" even if we are in our pajama's

Go for long rides, for no specific reason. Maybe just because we want cupcakes

Reminds us that God is for us

Tell us when our tags are hanging out, for crying out loud

Laugh and cry with us, sometimes within minutes of each other

Challenge us

Commiserate with us

Believe the best about us and give us the full benefit of a doubt.

Helen Keller said, " Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Paul said,

"We loved you dearly.  Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did."

The idea here is to "long after, to have a strong affection for."  Paul was so intensely attached to these people that he would have been willing to lay down his life for them. His most important job was to give them the Gospel, but after doing that he completely gave his heart over to them, also. 

Sounds like another Friend I know. 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."  John 15:12-13


Jesus is the best Friend. And then He allows us the privilege of other friends. 

Be the kind of friend that God can use. Be the friend that others look to for comfort and acceptance. Be the friend who tells the truth and loves just the same. 

And have some fun. I think Jesus had fun with his disciple friends. Why don't we? 

Be the friend that gives "your whole heart".  It's worth it.