Finding a true friend is tough. Keeping one is even harder. So often, we forge friendships in high school, college, work, etc., only to move to the other side of the country a few years later. Keeping these friendships strong from afar can be challenging, but it is oh-so-important. Aristotle wisely wrote, “Friendship is a thing most necessary to life, since without friends no one would choose to live, though possessed of all other advantages.”
I guess I’ve always known this, to a certain extent, but in the past few years, I’ve become more and more aware of how important it is to have strong friendships with other women. Too often, women tear each other down rather than building each other up, but when you find even one or two true “sisters,” something beautiful happens. During my college years, I was blessed to form friendships with some incredible women. Not only did we laugh, study, and hang out together, but we supported each other through the tough times, encouraged each other to better ourselves, and, most of all, prayed together.
The friendship rooted in love of Christ is the strongest kind of friendship. Fortunately, I’ve found it’s also the easiest to keep alive. I recently graduated from college, and now I’m going to be hours away from my closest friends. However, we are determined to keep our friendship strong, so we came up with a plan. Each of us has a “prayer partner bracelet.” (We are using the My Saint My Hero bracelets specifically designed for this purpose, but you could use any bracelet.) The idea is that each time we look at the bracelet, we are reminded to pray for one another. Once a week (I like Sunday, but you could do any day) we send out a group text with prayer requests for the week, so we know specifically what to pray for. Of course, we haven’t been doing this very long, but so far, the plan seems to be working nicely. In fact, I’ve discovered that I actually pray for my friends more now than I did before! In know I will miss my friends, and I know it will require dedication to keep these friendships going strong, but I take comfort in the fact that we are all united in Christ, most of all when we pray for one another.
Do you have advice for keeping friendships alive from afar? Feel free to share in the “comments” section!
The New Feminist 