Hello my name is and genuine friendship

Friendship makes the world a better place. It’s a fact. Even Jesus calls us friends, rather than minions. Life is better with people to share it, to cry over it with, to laugh over it with, and to sometimes grumble over it with.

Bible studies are one of the best ways to connect with people and they are always better with friends to add to the discussion. Have any of you ever had the privilege of sitting around with a group of friends, laughing about toddler antics or teenage antics, crying over the weight of a loss, eating too much dessert, eyes wide open to discovering something new as God peels off another layer of our hard hearts and we start to see real and living changes in our lives.

It’s a thing. Maybe you’ve never had it. Maybe you’ve had a shadow of it and you want the real deal- gathering around the Word, eating together, giving grace for lessons missed and words unread, sharing mercy when someone admits they yell at their kids and someone else admits that they don’t really like their church. It’s an open place, with lots of sharing. There is truth to show us our sin and grace so that it doesn’t destroy us.

People around the Word in real and genuine love for one another creates actual life change. Marriages aren’t easier but they are stickier. Lives still have struggle, but it’s less lonely. Relationships aren’t perfect, but there is tender care, mended fences, and growth.

I want more places where my life looks more like…

real

genuine

authentic

growth

care

gathering

community.

And I don’t think it’s asking too much of one another.

Who is one other person in your life that you can share this kind of real friendship with?

Maybe they are close by, maybe you can sit around coffee and talk through a week of study together. Maybe they are far away and you can get creative and still sit around coffee and talk through a week of study together, or type through a week of study together, or text through a week of study together.

Our deep desire for friendship is from God. We were created for community, we need each other. And He will help us to create it together, someone takes the first step, and another comes along. That is His Spirit doing some of His best work, helping, comforting, connecting. While it seems complicated, friendship is also pretty straightforward. Like most things in life…it’s both. Let’s consider the simple steps today:

Step 1 - invite someone into your life, to study, or to talk together, or both.

Step 2 – be genuine together. This sounds simple, but in reality it is one of the most difficult things we can do because it requires great vulnerability. This is especially hard for those of you who have struggled with or for friendships in the past. I have been there. Walking the road of healing and finding new friendships in our current season can be difficult, but you aren’t alone. I hear from so many women seeking just one good friend. The good news is, she may just be sitting next to you, or she may be a “friend” on social media that we can get to know a little deeper.

I encourage you to reach out and across today.

Start with an invitation:

“Hello my name is….would you like to talk over coffee?”

“Hello my name is….would you like to go (hike, go to a movie, eat this banana) with me?”

“Hello my name is….Would you like to join me to study together?”

Then continue in invitation:

“Hey, friend, would you like to talk over coffee?”

“Hey, friend, would you like to go (hike, go to a movie, eat this banana) with me?”

“Hey, friend, would you like to join me to study together?”

You can do this. Start and then continue. Start and then continue. This is genuine friendship.

*Wondering about the place of boundaries in vulnerability? Find more posts on friendship on the relationships page.