Deep Friendships

Deep Friendships

Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

Not long ago a good friend of mine admitted that she was so thankful for our small group of friends that had developed over the past year because, prior to that, she’d never really had girlfriends. I looked at her, a bit stunned by her statement. I was surprised to hear that she didn’t have other good friends since she is one of the kindest and friendliest people I know. When I mentioned this, she just shrugged her shoulders and said she’d had a few friends in high school, but marriage and kids took priority, and friendship was put on the back burner to manage more pressing concerns.

Although I certainly understood what she meant about other things getting in the way, I also know how important it is to have good friends in all stages of our lives. It can happen to any of us: life gets busy, and although we may know a lot of people, we can miss having real and deep friendships with others until one day we realize we don’t have any really good friends. If this is where you find yourself, you can have hope in knowing that you don’t have to remain there.

The story of Ruth and Naomi portrays one of my favorite friendships in the Bible. Ruth and Naomi loved and supported one another and walked through all of life together. In a beautiful statement of vulnerability, Ruth made a commitment to her friend to go with her wherever she might go. There may be many reasons for the book of Ruth in the Bible, but one, I believe, is to show us the power of community. Ruth and Naomi’s example teaches us to start by spending time with other women, sharing life with them, and then opening up honestly about the good and hard things we are facing. It may not happen all at once, but just one little step at a time grows deep friendships.

We have a lot we can learn from these two women. All is not lost if we find ourselves in a season of not having close friendships. We each have available to us the ability to reach out to someone today and make friendship a priority.

— Kendra

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Reach out to someone with whom you want to either maintain or deepen a friendship.