Family Friends

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

“Morning! Are my friends planning to go to the football game this Friday? Caden was asking me if you guys were coming,” my friend Christa texted early one Monday morning.

“Oh yes, it’s on our calendar! Tell him we wouldn’t miss it!” I responded.

“You better believe it!” Julie chimed in.

We’ve been friends for years, and although we don’t see each other as often as we’d like, we’ve been intentional about staying connected as individuals and as families—participating in one another’s lives and cheering on the kids in their interests as well. We cook together, throw parties, and celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, and we are always there to pray for one another through good and hard seasons.

We showed up to the game Friday night, cheering as loudly as we could for Caden and taking photos of ourselves for Christa to show him later to prove that we’d been there to watch his team land another victory.

As I went to leave after the game, I hugged my friends and felt grateful for these people who walk through life not only with me but with my family as well.

Friendship at any age is so important. We need people who are in similar stages of life to understand and sympathize with all that we are going through. But we also need people who are in different places in their lives, both older and younger, to give us different perspectives. And so do our kids. It’s important for my children to know and build relationships with my friends, as I hope their kids can do with me as well. I’m grateful that the wisdom and skills our children gain from other adults supports all the things my husband and I are trying to teach them.

Scripture tells us that we are to have genuine love for each other. One way we do that is by coming alongside not only our friends but their family members as well, taking an interest and encouraging them in their lives and activities. It’s so important for us to mentor and be mentored by others, at any age. Friendship is a gift meant to be shared with the young and the old.

Kendra

Today’s Act of Gratitude

Be intentional about building relationships with the extended family members of your friends. Their kids, parents, or other relatives all need encouragement, too, and can offer a fresh perspective on life.