Getting Beyond My Fear of Friendship

Sometimes, you read something that just hits you. It's one of those things that you could have written yourself. Recently, someone very near and dear to my heart shared with me the following article. I am telling you, you guys need to read it!

Go to the article here

See what I mean? It's good, isn't it? And it is absolutely, positively spot on. I have been in that place. That sort of place is definitely not a fun one. It was, and still can be, a place where there is much pain and sadness and tears. However, a thought that stood out to me was this:

Friendship is the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person! Having neither to weigh thoughts or measure words, but pouring all right out just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful friendly hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and, with a breath of comfort, blow the rest away


I have been blessed with several friends who live out that above statement in my life. They are the friends that I turn to when I need pray, they are the friends that I can act positively stupid with; they are their for me when I need a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent to. They don't live me and each and every one of them plays a different role in the grand scheme of things--but I feel safe around them.

It has not always been this case for me and indeed, if I were to tell you all about my friendship woes, we would be here much too long. However, I can attest to the fact that I had to get beyond my fear of friendships, to open myself myself to possible rejection again, before I got to experience friendships built on really solid foundations.

If I had one piece of advice for you and for myself, it would be this: be the kind of friend that a person can lean on. It looks different with every person and with every friendship. Just don't be a mean girl. Don't be a jerk. There are enough of those in the word. Be an example of Christ.