Opposites Attract

Opposites Attract

There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. . . . God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

Lizzie, Jazzy, and Addi. Our girls, born six months apart to two besties, have been hanging out with one another since before they could crawl. I once hated the unfairness of arbitrary school boundaries that zigzagged between our houses resulting in our girls attending different schools. But sometimes, we cannot see God’s immense blessing until far later, until one day, we realize that our repeated lament was a blessing in disguise and that God knew exactly what he was doing.

Because our girls have gone to different schools, they’ve had the freedom to define their friendship without the interference of classmates and school hierarchies that often make middle school friendships complex. They are learning to cheer one another on in their wildly different strengths and to be young women who are secure enough in their friendship to release one another into other friendship circles. Having a strong friendship circle outside of classmates has been life-giving for my daughter, and it has given me a new appreciation for the importance of different groups of friends.

Several of the girlfriends I hold closest to my heart know one another only tangentially. They hail from different seasons of my life and different social circles that my husband and I move through, and they have a vast array of skill sets and strengths very different from my own. The family of God is diverse in a thousand ways, but it is the same God in all of us, and he has gifted each one of us uniquely. He is the unifier, the glue that pulls his diverse family into community.

I’m only now beginning to understand the immense blessing of an inner circle of girlfriends who are varied and diverse, each of whom challenges, loves, and supports me in different ways. Finding friendship with women who are different from you and who hail from different backgrounds and experiences brings a richness and depth to life that you do not want to miss.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Pray that God would send you a diversity of deep, new friendships and then watch for the women he puts in your path.