12 Days of Christmas: 9

By thissmallgroup, December 16, 2019

9 Ladies Dancing

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…dancing! I love dancing. Am I the most skilled dancer? Absolutely not. But there’s something about dancing that helps you forget everything else going on and just focus on having fun. And while having a quick solo dance party is sometimes needed (it definitely helped with getting through homework in college!), it’s awesome when you can grab a bunch of your friends and go out and have fun on the dance floor.

While dancing may not be your thing, you can’t deny how awesome it is to spend time with friends. I feel like as adults, it can be hard to grow strong and deep friendships. We tend to get so wrapped up in the other things we have going on: work, church, romantic relationships, family, errands, chores, etc. As adults, it seems like we can even go months before we see a friend again. In school, you were around tons of peers, so it was pretty easy to find friends. When you’re spending hours a day in school, you’re able to bond with many different friends. But it’s different when you’re an adult. You might not have anyone close to your age or anything in common with people at work. Your church might not have a strong young professionals group. You might have to spend much of your spare time running around to kids’ activities or running the errands or doing work around the house. It can be challenging to even find a friend, let alone find time to grow that friendship.

However, I know this may be a no brainer statement, but friendships are so important. There’s something about being able to share your lives with someone who isn’t related to you. There’s something about being able to talk about your thoughts and experiences with someone who is not close to the situations you’re dealing with.

Proverbs 17:17 says that a ‘friend loves at all times”. True friends are there for you when you’re at your highest points and when you’re at your lowest. True friends will answer the phone at 2am when you really need their help. True friends will encourage you to go after your goals and celebrate with you when you achieve them. But friendships like that do not just happen. Sometimes, they are born through years and years of spending time together. Other times, they are born from going through amazing or challenging experiences together. But friendships like these cannot grow strong without effort.

Maybe you’re at a similar stage as I am and you don’t have a husband and kids or a long-term relationship just yet. If that’s the case, then make the most of this time to grow those friendships. Grab some coffee, go on a road trip, or see a new romantic comedy. And, when you do get to the point where you’re in a long-term relationship or starting a family, make sure you remember to take time with those friends you built those strong bonds with.

I know the holidays can be crazy busy and we can get so focused on all the things that need to be accomplished. But one thing we should do our best to achieve is taking the time to grow strong friendships and spend some time with our friends.

-Allie