The Power of Sister-Friends

Friends, come and go, they come in and out of seasons, they stand beside you and hold you up, they are there to see you cry, to laugh, to call just to laugh with you about getting lost. Friends are there when you decide to cook and start a small fire. Friends are a special gift.

I've written about friends many times before, however, never would I have thought that I would write the following, this past year I saw friends in a whole new way.

All my life, I've prided myself about having a lot of guy friends and being a mix of a tomboy. Yes, I had female friends growing up, but I always struggled with them and at times the dramatic mean girl, though never my intention even through college and now. Yet, there is so much grace and joy to have the beauty of sisters. We have so many different opportunities to have friendships through school, sororities, social clubs, yoga, bible studies, you name it. Yet, I've always been afraid to dig deep with female friends or to stay close and in some ways I felt superficial and uncomfortable though I do have several really good friends from growing up who have been there through thick and thin and would be there for each other in a heart beat.

This year, I moved to a new city and I was excited for all new friends, of both genders, which I did create, but not in the way I was expecting. Acceptance is something as females we easily struggle with, but I have never been so grateful for women in my life. It's taken being stripped to the bottom to come and be vulnerable. Friends, these people are family and they want to walk along side you and build you up, call you out when you need to be called out, dance all night, watch movies and drink tea, crochet without speaking, whatever it is the people around you shape you.

As we graduate and go into adulthood, those people you've had there along the way are now in different places in life, and you have to find new people but also keep the same people. It's funny to think who you talk to now after school then when you were in school. Whether, they are miles away in grad school, down south teaching school, miles away in a different country, right down the street, or just back home working. You have a tribe of people surrounding you. It's not an easy thing but I can not say thank you enough, to have those people to speak truth in life and to build you up. Male or female friends are true gifts. I'm still a fan of both but I'm learning to accept and build the foundation of truth and finding the balance of the two. Who is going to be to go to the grocery store on a Friday night to eat, or laugh at a dress malfunction, speak truth and wisdom about the people around you or bake with you all night? 

Who are those people who build you up? Who is your tribe?

"Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. — Albert Camus"

"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow." – William Shakespeare


I leave you with two things that I learned from my social clubs in college that I did not truly appreciate until now "a chord of three strands is not easily broken" and the following hymn.

"Blest be the tithe that binds....
We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear"

It's a beauty, its a gift so don't let it slip away at your fingertips.

- Trust the Sunrise.