The Price Tag of Friendship
by Cynthia Jennings on June 12, 2019The Price Tag of Friendship
As women we have a plethora of emotional demands which at times can be very intense. One of the ways God replenishes us emotionally is through friendship. I’m quite sure you’ve heard “women are a trip and it’s difficult to have a healthy positive relationship with women”. Oftentimes we are convinced that the risk of having close friends outweighs the reward.
News flash!!!! There is no love without risk. Every friendship must contain the element of risk if it is to grow and mature into it’s full potential. Friendships take intentional work and should be reciprocated.
I must confess!!! I am a murderer! If you put a plant in my hands, I am sure to kill it. LOL! But I was determined to get a plant. Meaning I was willing to take a risk at investing in something that I wasn’t sure of the outcome (much like friendships). A year ago, I bought two plants. I was intentional in learning what it took for me not only to care for those plants but to care for them in a way that they would flourish and not die. I must say I am extremely proud of myself. I still have those plants one is alive and flourishing, and the other, well it is flourishing with resistance. So, do I risk uprooting and replanting the plant that is flourishing with resistance? Will this be the best thing or will it cause harm to my plant?
I looked at those plants one morning and it reminded me of how intentional we as women need to be in putting in work to care for our friendships in a way that it would flourish and not die. In the process of caring for a plant there needs to be some pruning, feeding and talking to. Just as our friendships will need some pruning to root out anything that will cause damage, feeding to ensure growth at different phases of the friendship (yes there are different phases of friendship), and talking not only about easy topics but those topics that may cause some resistance. There may also be a time where uprooting and replanting needs to take place for the betterment of the plant/friendship. When looking at my plants I no longer see just a plant, I see the beauty of the plants. Although I experience an occasional ouch in taking care of my plants, the beauty far outweighs the ouch. I learned to handle my plant with care and respect. Friendships are much the same. They have stages of growth as do plants. Yes, friends will at times hurt you. Yes, friends at times will be your biggest supporters. With friendship comes strength and weakness. Whether the friendship is at a stage of extreme growth or needs to be uprooted for the betterment of both women. Your love for her as another woman should remain. Regardless if your friendship is at the beauty or ouch stage, choose love. Love may or may not mean you are with or talk to that friend daily. The depth of love means you pray for them without being asked, and you REFRAIN from any negative conversation about them, especially if the friendship is in the ouch phase.
PEARLStoPONDER: Every friendship has a price tag of some kind. We should get to the place where love covers the cost.
Proverbs 27: 17-- Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man/woman sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Proverbs 18:24-- A man/woman that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Colossians 3:14-- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man/woman have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
As women we have a plethora of emotional demands which at times can be very intense. One of the ways God replenishes us emotionally is through friendship. I’m quite sure you’ve heard “women are a trip and it’s difficult to have a healthy positive relationship with women”. Oftentimes we are convinced that the risk of having close friends outweighs the reward.
News flash!!!! There is no love without risk. Every friendship must contain the element of risk if it is to grow and mature into it’s full potential. Friendships take intentional work and should be reciprocated.
I must confess!!! I am a murderer! If you put a plant in my hands, I am sure to kill it. LOL! But I was determined to get a plant. Meaning I was willing to take a risk at investing in something that I wasn’t sure of the outcome (much like friendships). A year ago, I bought two plants. I was intentional in learning what it took for me not only to care for those plants but to care for them in a way that they would flourish and not die. I must say I am extremely proud of myself. I still have those plants one is alive and flourishing, and the other, well it is flourishing with resistance. So, do I risk uprooting and replanting the plant that is flourishing with resistance? Will this be the best thing or will it cause harm to my plant?
I looked at those plants one morning and it reminded me of how intentional we as women need to be in putting in work to care for our friendships in a way that it would flourish and not die. In the process of caring for a plant there needs to be some pruning, feeding and talking to. Just as our friendships will need some pruning to root out anything that will cause damage, feeding to ensure growth at different phases of the friendship (yes there are different phases of friendship), and talking not only about easy topics but those topics that may cause some resistance. There may also be a time where uprooting and replanting needs to take place for the betterment of the plant/friendship. When looking at my plants I no longer see just a plant, I see the beauty of the plants. Although I experience an occasional ouch in taking care of my plants, the beauty far outweighs the ouch. I learned to handle my plant with care and respect. Friendships are much the same. They have stages of growth as do plants. Yes, friends will at times hurt you. Yes, friends at times will be your biggest supporters. With friendship comes strength and weakness. Whether the friendship is at a stage of extreme growth or needs to be uprooted for the betterment of both women. Your love for her as another woman should remain. Regardless if your friendship is at the beauty or ouch stage, choose love. Love may or may not mean you are with or talk to that friend daily. The depth of love means you pray for them without being asked, and you REFRAIN from any negative conversation about them, especially if the friendship is in the ouch phase.
PEARLStoPONDER: Every friendship has a price tag of some kind. We should get to the place where love covers the cost.
Proverbs 27: 17-- Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man/woman sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
Proverbs 18:24-- A man/woman that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Colossians 3:14-- Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man/woman have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
