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Overlooked vocation of friendship
As a marriage therapist, I spend a lot of time advocating and investing in the institution of marriage. And I believe this is a noble and worthy cause and there are many who join me in fighting this good fight. But what often gets overlooked is our vocation of friendship. We often treat our friends as a casual luxury. Sure, it’s nice to hang out and connect when we can. But these are often not relationships that we fight for.
Friendship as a necessary luxury
I believe it’s best to see our friendships as a necessary luxury. That sure while we can live life without our friends, we become less of the men that we need to be without a few good friends walk with us throughout life. And so as a vocation, we make a commitment to invest in our friendships. And certainly this includes simply making time to enjoy each other’s company. But more than this, it also requires us to go deep…calling out the best in each other – iron sharpening iron, as a good friend can speak in our life in ways that our family and even our wife simply cannot.
Friendships for the sake of God’s kingdom
And this building up is not just for our own personal sake, that somehow God is using our friendship to bring more life and goodness into the world. And so you must consider what God has bought this friend into our life. What is the unique mission that God has given our friendship?
True friendship is costly and potentially disruptive, but we become better men, husbands, and fathers when we invest in this vocation. And we rob ourselves of goodness and joy when we treat our friends too casually or take them for granted.
As so by means invest in your marriage, invest in your kids, but don’t forget to also invest in your friends. Ultimately, this blesses you and everyone else as well.
