An Unlikely Friendship

An Unlikely Friendship

Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

My son, Jonny, has a girl friend. And when I say girl friend, I mean a friend who happens to be a girl.

She is among the smartest in their class and is quiet and reserved. My son is loud, extroverted, and has a tender heart for those on the fringes of the elementary-aged popularity scene.

At some point during third grade, I started hearing Jonny mention Samantha’s name more frequently during our after-school chats—they had started playing together on the playground and sitting next to each other during lunch. She told him that she missed him while he was on vacation, and I know he misses her when she is absent as well. Aaron and I gently encourage and protect this friendship because it is innocent and special. There is no crushing going on; this is simply a budding friendship between two slightly unlikely souls.

Friendships are excellent training grounds for learning mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, especially for our children. We practice conflict management, compromise, compassion, and forgiveness in relationships, and having friends with personality traits and life experiences different from our own requires each of these skills. Jonny is learning what it is to be friends with a girl his age— an important life experience that Aaron and I are quietly helping him navigate.

Jonny isn’t the only one in our household navigating friendship with someone who is nothing like him. Five years ago, I began to pray that God would send us friends far outside our comfort zone. As followers of Christ, we are sent to the world, and even living in central Minnesota has not limited God in expanding our friend circle. We are learning mercy, kindness, gentleness, humility, and patience in relationships that transcend nationality, religion, and language. And our lives are far richer for it.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Pray for God to send you friends who are nothing like the friends you currently have, and seek ways to intentionally befriend those who are different from you in significant ways.