I just finished reading Let Your Life Speak, and in it, author Parker Palmer says, “The Spirit continues to call me and many others to more openness and vulnerability, more shared humanity and mutual healing, even - and perhaps especially - when the subject is so difficult that words seem to fail.”
When I was a little girl, I thought friendship was about matching your outfits and sharing your dolls and sleepovers and how many notes you got stuck in your locker by the end of the day. I also used to think of friendship as a luxury, an add-on. Great if you have it, but no big deal if you don’t.
I’m not a little girl anymore, and I no longer have little girl problems. And because of that, my view of friendship has shifted and changed and enlarged and, at the same time, taken on a very narrow focus. I’m not just looking for someone to play with, someone to share clothes with…though that’s all good and fine. My life now requires something more out of my friendships. I am a woman who is looking to build a family around me, a family of my choosing. And I am stunned and amazed and humbled to say that I have.
The women in my life - Erika included – are my sisters. They are my home. The harder life gets – mine and my friends – the deeper we go together. The better life gets - all of ours – the more there is for us all to celebrate. In the dark, they hold my hand and point me back to the Light.
Life would not simply be boring without my friendships, it would be poor and shallow. I would be weaker than God wants and needs me to be. I would have no one to share my stories with, my triumphs, my hard lessons learned, my faith questions and faith revelations. And of course, my clothes.
Much love to my girls. And Erika, you can come home now.
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Great post! Thank you! :)
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