Days 8 and 9: Christian Friends

I'm doing 2 days at once because (1) I realized I'm one day behind and (2) this is a big one that I've been joyful about for a long time.

Christian friends: I'm not just talking about friends who happen to be Christians, just people you met at church or Christian school. I'm talking about friends who, in the course of your time together, mentor and minister to you, and you to them. These are friends whose joys and sorrows become your joys and sorrows, until you can't even remember what's really yours and what's theirs -- because they aren't yours and theirs, they are shared the way God intended. Sharing among friends has some remarkable qualities. Have you noticed the incongruities? A shared burden shrinks; a shared joy grows. What a lovely thing! And what a godly thing. Over and over again, the book of Romans talks about one-anothering:

• Be devoted to one another in love (Romans 12:10)
• Honor one another above yourselves (12:10)
• Live in harmony with one another (12:16)
• Love one another (13:8)
• Stop passing judgement on one another (14:13)
• Accept one another (15:7)
• Instruct one another (15:14)
• Greet one another with a holy kiss (16:16)

And that's just Romans. There's still more one-anotherings in Paul's letters, such as serve, be kind and compassionate to, submit to, forgive, and encourage. The point is that God loves His people as individuals and as a community, and He wants us to benefit from community. He knows it makes us stronger as individuals and as a group. It's not always an easy calling -- it means dealing with other people's problems, even people you don't particularly like or with whom you have little in common. But learning to live in community refines you and pleases God.

I am in a season of my life in which I have been very, very blessed by one-anothering types of Christian friendships. At other times in life, I have felt isolated. For example, in graduate school, I knew only one other Christian woman in my university (and, in God's typical manner, He sat her down right next to me!), and she needed me as mentor. For many years, I prayed for a Christan mentor of my own: a mature Christian woman who I could model and whose advice and counsel I could seek. That prayer request has been answered in God's typical cup-overflowing method -- He has provided in such an abundance I could never have envisioned. Even the friends of my friends are women of God -- when I meet them, I often think, "this person and I could be great friends." I am grateful. I am joyful.