The Heart of The Matter

If I get back to the basics of things, the whole reason I started this blog was to share lessons that God teaches me on my road to adulthood and becoming His daughter. Therefore, today, I will share some things I have learned about friendship...the easy ways and the hard ways. We will, of course, be doing this in list format. After all, that is how I roll. :O)

1. I have learned that any friendship worth keeping is a lot of work. A great, close friendship is a lot like a marriage and it requires daily care.

2. I have learned that if you are really going to be close to someone, the best way to do that is by laying all of yourself out on the table. This means that you will have to say some hard things and hear a lot of hard things. Even though this part may hurt your feelings, you have to trust that the friend does it out of concern or sees it as truth.

3. I have learned that different friends fulfill different purposes in your life. You have a friend that may just be your movie friend. You have a friend that may just be the one that will tell you the truth when you try clothes on, and this is your shopping friend. You will have a friend that your children play with their children....the play-date friend. And then there are usually a couple....that even though you fall out..and back in....you can lay out all of your dirty laundry. You can call them and tell them your husband is being a real jerk. You can tell them you want to string your children up by their toes. You can tell them you need them to pray...hard and fast....and trust that they will do it. You can tell them they hurt your feelings. You can tell them you love them. You can be dirty or clean, hungry or full, empty or fulfilled...and when you show up it doesn't matter. It just matters that you have shown up. This friend is the forever one. The priceless one. This is the one that when you do hear hard things from them, you may be angry for a day or two...but you don't shut them out of your life. You need them too much.

4. I have learned that even the best facades can be seen through and broken down. No matter how hard someone tries.

5. I have learned that ANYBODY can say ANYTHING. It's in the "doing" that matters.

6. Finally, one of the most important things I have learned is this: “It is in conflict that our values are exposed.” – Genesis by Bernard Beckett, p. 88

Chock it all up to another lesson learned.