Last night I had the privilege to meet with a group of women to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart – the importance of Christian friendships among women. This is a topic I’ve blogged about before, one that I feel passionately about. I’ve been looking forward to this class, while at the same time having some apprehension about it. It’s impossible to lead a class that discusses the importance of vulnerability and transparency without being, well, vulnerable and transparent. It was an amazing first class, ending the way all good classes full of women should – most of us were in tears.
Copious amounts of material can be found on this subject, but there are two issues that I have found to be primary barriers to female friendships. The first issue is that we are afraid that if people really knew us, they would discover just how neurotic and non have-it-all-together we really are. I can claim this issue for my own. You can only keep a mask on for so long before it starts to slip, and that can be terrifying.
The other issue that I keep encountering is that the busier life gets and the more items we have to juggle in our lives, friendships with other women are the first casualties of an over-extended calendar. We simply have to cut something out, and so friendships get the pink slip. This is an interesting dynamic of the self-sacrifice that we feel we must make for the sake of our families.
Both of these topics are ones I’m going to dissect and write about more in detail. For now, how many close friends do you have? (And by close friends, I mean friends who could look under your bed or in your closet without you experiencing a panic attack…).