Unlikely Friends

Unlikely Friends

Now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

For the past several years I’ve been an organizer and co-emcee for a statewide single moms’ retreat. When I first heard about the retreat, I just knew I’d want to be a part of it, but I was also hesitant. What would I have to offer? I’m not a single mom. I really didn’t have many close friends who were single moms. How would I be able to help? And would others think I didn’t belong?

But when I shared my fears with Carol—the main organizer of the event—she quickly smiled and told me that sometimes God uses people in places and ways they never thought possible. And so I agreed to do it, in part because I had also gotten to know Julie, the other organizer for the retreat and my co-emcee for the event. Julie is a single mom herself and is one of the kindest people I know.

In the end, the weekend went beautifully. We laughed together. We cried. We were honest. We had fun. We bonded. We became friends. And here’s what I keep thinking about: What if I had missed this opportunity? What if I had let my insecurity or ideas about how I’m different or have nothing to offer be a reason not to participate? What would I have missed? Now the single moms’ retreat is one of my absolute favorite weekends out of the entire year. You couldn’t pay me to miss it. I love this mission, this sisterhood of women.

Is there something outside of your comfort zone that you feel called to do? Maybe, like me, what’s holding you back is what you perceive as your differences. Maybe God is planning to use you in spite of those differences. We were meant to love those who, at least on the surface, look very different from us, obeying God’s command to love others as he has loved us. Sometimes friendship is created in some of the most unlikely places.

— Kendra

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Commit to participate in or attend an event or gathering with people who are different from you.