The swirling thoughts won’t end and my face often feels hot as I try and navigate through them.
Whether it is a word spoken harshly, a failed endeavor, or just the feelings of inadequacy that stem from our current culture – my mind does not rest.
As I try to combat lies with truth, I often become tired and give in to the lies that swirl around my mind.
Often when I am presented with a lie, my own perception is skewed, and I need someone outside my own mind to grant me perspective to see through the fog.
Recently a friend of mine was changing jobs and the lies came. Lies about how she didn’t have much to offer. Lies about the value of the work she completed, and lies about her worth.
The evil one lives for the moments when we buy into these lies and keep them swirling in our minds.
She called me and allowed me to expose the lies for what they were, replacing them with perspective and truth.
What a gift to be able to give perspective to a friend and free her from the bondage of her own swirling thoughts!
Self-counsel is dangerous because of our tendency to lean towards sin and see our circumstances through a skewed perspective. When we choose to embrace transparency in safe places the “sweetness of a friend” trumps self-counsel every time.
Perspective often hinders us from seeing the full picture in our own lives, but often gives us the full picture for others, if they choose to be transparent with us.
To have a friend that sees the full transparent version of ourselves and chooses to love us, is a gift that we all deserve, but few find.
To be a friend that loves others in full transparency is a gift that we can all offer, but it takes effort and dedication.
Getting to a place where I can trust the “sweetness of a friend” over my own self-counsel, starts with choosing transparency in safe places as well as choosing to love others in theirs.
Once those things happen, the perspective of someone who loves the full version of me can bring so much light to the dark places in my mind where all the lies swirl.
The Bible says so much about the benefits of friendship; they help carry one another burden’s (Galatians 6:2), they choose to love at all times (Proverbs 17:17), they sharpen one another (Proverbs 27:17) and honor each other over themselves (Romans 12:10).
Let’s not forget the gift of friendship God created and intended for good.
Often we choose to believe that people don’t have time or aren’t interested, leaving us in a tangle of self-counsel, but God intended life to be lived with others, not only for the sake of community, but for our own benefit.
The word “sweet” can often be interpreted as pleasurable or seen as meek, but the sweetness of a friend isn’t just intended for enjoyment, it offers clarity, wise counsel and a steady hand on rocky terrain.
Let’s choose to be the “sweetness of a friend” with those who choose to be transparent with us.
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