Thankful tears flowed from my eyes this morning as I thanked a friend for being the blessing he is in my life.
He is my imperfect friend who has no pressure to live up to anything but being him, because his perfectly imperfect genuine self is a rarity.
Take a big, beautiful heart and add in compassion; understanding; trustworthy; humor; integrity; wisdom;hysterical; God loving; creative man who is well dressed and super fun ..there is my dear friend. See? Rare.
He accepts me as is. He loves me as is. He might sometimes be disappointed for my choices and how they will affect me; at the same time, he is not disappointed in me. Big difference.
He encourages me to be the best version of me I can be while never loving me any less as I travel my journey and sometimes behave like a dumbass. (true story) We speak truth to one another; even when truth is ugly feeling. The thing is…when truth is spoken in love and safety is present…it’s a sacred treasure. He challenges me when it’s uncomfortable and would be much easier to not.
He knows my everything. My everything is safe with him. He has never played judge and jury to me. That is magical. We’ve all been in a place that we believed we were truly safe with someone…until a dreaded, unexpected moment illuminates a reality that safety has been an illusion. There was not acceptance and love of who you are; perhaps there was acceptance and love for who they want you to be. That is not magical, it sucks.
Laughter, tears, and everything in between are welcome. He is proud of my accomplishments, generous with his encouragements, okay with my sunshine as well as my melancholy and super fun to go to the grocery store with. He loves sex (not with me), milkshakes, animals, learning and laughter. The countless endless conversations we have will never have sufficient words to let him know that he is cooler and more than he will ever grasp.
I hope and pray I provide the same for him. There are perhaps 10 people in my world outside of my family that I have this type of friendship with. I intend to ensure they always know how deeply I love them.
As I expressed my gratitude to my precious friend this morning, my heart was pinged. Is this not how our God designed us to be in relation with one another? We are made in His image, right? I know God loves me. He made me. He knows my heart, he knows the numbers of hairs on my head for goodness sake. He knows my journey. God weeps with me, rejoices with me, and loves me in the messy middle (which is where my humanness seems to have me living the majority of the time).
Beloved human connections (could, should, can) mirror our relationship with God. We are God’s heart, walking outside of His body but still in Him. Our loves are the same…pieces of our heart walking outside of our body but always in us.
True Friendship…it’s a beautiful form of intimacy. In our individuality, we are still all reflections of each other. In our separateness, we are still made to be unified. How cool is my God? Not only does he offer me unconditional love and friendship through Him…he gives me that in real live humans.
The reciprocity of real friendship is the ultimate legacy to leave with another. This type of friendship has impacted my life profoundly for the better.
I am grateful to have even one friend of this caliber in my life; sex and milkshakes too.
Philippians 1:3 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you.”
SUNKISSED SOUL 