BFFs
Even as a child I never liked the term BFF, Best Friend Forever. I didn't like the term LYLAS either - Love Ya Like A Sister. Something about the terms seemed untrue to me. How can you know at age eight that you'll really be friends when you're 50? Love you like a sister??? My sisters fought so much and would even draw blood with claw marks on each others' arms - so why would that be a good thing?
See, even as a youngster I tended to think a bit much about things. That can be good in some ways, but paralyzing in other ways.
But this past week I heard a new definition for BFF that I could truly embrace. Biblical Friends Forever. To me, that rings true. When Christ and the truth of the Bible is the center of a relationship, then time doesn't matter. You can always catch up with someone you haven't seen for years and know there's a core foundation that never moves and bolsters your friendship.
I learned this term from my dear friend, Sally. Her and her husband, Alan, were Bible Study leaders for Andy and me in our early married days. Even though we moved away from Austin over 10 years ago, we've remained friends.
Sally has started a great tradition, which I love, where she gathers friends she's collected over the years in all the different places she's lived, and we all get together once a year at the beach to laugh, talk, relax, study God's word, discuss deep things, and just be ourselves among a group of women that you don't have to prove anything to. Seven years ago, I'd never met many of these women. The beach is the only time we see each other typically, and there's something in that fact of distance that creates closeness.
We've been through a lot together now. They've seen me go through ups and downs of fostering and adoption. Some have struggled in their marriage and been separated on the brink of divorce, but with God have now been restored and redeemed and in a marriage that is "better than it's ever been." A few have had VERY difficult situations with their grown children (and that's an understatement). Some have been walking through a terminal diagnosis with a spouse.
These ladies have lived. And despite the tremendous trials in their life, their joy is unmatched. Every year we laugh until we cry at some point. Every year there are hugs and prayers and encouragement and calm. They are my Biblical Friends Forever.
My dare for myself is to be creating and coming up with a plan for how to make my own circle like this. A retreat of sorts for those dear to me that I've known over the years, so that we can do the same for one another, and so that maybe one from that group will then create another circle of her own.
See, even as a youngster I tended to think a bit much about things. That can be good in some ways, but paralyzing in other ways.
But this past week I heard a new definition for BFF that I could truly embrace. Biblical Friends Forever. To me, that rings true. When Christ and the truth of the Bible is the center of a relationship, then time doesn't matter. You can always catch up with someone you haven't seen for years and know there's a core foundation that never moves and bolsters your friendship.
I learned this term from my dear friend, Sally. Her and her husband, Alan, were Bible Study leaders for Andy and me in our early married days. Even though we moved away from Austin over 10 years ago, we've remained friends.
Sally has started a great tradition, which I love, where she gathers friends she's collected over the years in all the different places she's lived, and we all get together once a year at the beach to laugh, talk, relax, study God's word, discuss deep things, and just be ourselves among a group of women that you don't have to prove anything to. Seven years ago, I'd never met many of these women. The beach is the only time we see each other typically, and there's something in that fact of distance that creates closeness.
We've been through a lot together now. They've seen me go through ups and downs of fostering and adoption. Some have struggled in their marriage and been separated on the brink of divorce, but with God have now been restored and redeemed and in a marriage that is "better than it's ever been." A few have had VERY difficult situations with their grown children (and that's an understatement). Some have been walking through a terminal diagnosis with a spouse.
These ladies have lived. And despite the tremendous trials in their life, their joy is unmatched. Every year we laugh until we cry at some point. Every year there are hugs and prayers and encouragement and calm. They are my Biblical Friends Forever.
My dare for myself is to be creating and coming up with a plan for how to make my own circle like this. A retreat of sorts for those dear to me that I've known over the years, so that we can do the same for one another, and so that maybe one from that group will then create another circle of her own.
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