The Joys of Being Known

photo credit: scampercom via flickr

I love the type of conversations with friends where you lose track of time. You know, when you realize you’ve been on the phone for two hours and you know you could easily talk another two hours without blinking. The kind when you can say things that weigh heavy on your heart with brutal honesty and you know the other person on the line loves you just as much, if not more than when you had kept it bottled up inside. No masks, no magic tricks, no smoke & mirrors…just you and all your idiosyncrasies in all their glory. The kind of friendship where they see you…the real you…and it doesn’t scare them away. Bearing your soul, but the next second, laughing hysterically and hearing the echoes of giggles past joining in. And when you finally peel yourself from the phone… after you’ve said a hundred goodbyes, you feel lighter and refreshed…ready to tackle the world, or at the very least, the laundry mountain.

I love those friendships that you’ve had for years, and they’ve grown as you have. Through the twists and turns of life, through seasons, and kids, but yet they’re still there waiting on the shelves when you’re ready to pull them down and dust them off again. And when you do, they’re just as comfortable as before, but yet at the same time they’re better, because you’ve both lived in the meantime. The kind of friendships that are as comfortable as your favorite sweatshirt on a blustery day. The kind of friendship where your souls are knit together and you can’t remember where you end and she begins.

To have someone to rejoice with, to cry with, laugh with, and pray with. Oh, the joys of being known!

I’m thankful today for a friend like that. A gift from the Father as I navigate this thing called life…because we just aren’t designed to go through life alone.