We can have “fun” friends. Friends who are always up to do something and friends who make us laugh.
We can have “in-the-same-season” friends. The ones who are convenient to hang out with because they live a similar life or live close to us.
We can have old friends. The ones who have been around forever, and who know our whole life and have years of memories with us.
We can have work friends. Church friends. Our kid’s friends parents. Friends from our neighborhoods.
There are many different types of friends we can have in this life.
But it’s the safe friends that will leave the greatest impact on us.
A safe friend allows you to breathe deeper and lighter, because you don’t have to have your guard up. You know they aren’t going to hurt you.
You know with your safe friend that their intentions are good. They aren’t going to go behind your back or use things against you. They wouldn’t do that.
You’ve seen them genuinely celebrate the good in your life, and also seen how they stood beside you in the hard. You know your emotions aren’t too much for them.
Safe friends are the ones that you can bring out your dark and ugly parts and be met with grace and understanding.
Safe friends let you be you. They don’t have an agenda. They’re in your life because they love you as you.
That feels safe.
It feels safe not to have to try to be someone else.
Safe friends have this way of leaving us feeling more at ease and more understood.
Having a friendship where we can run to that feels like a soft place to land is truly one of the greatest gifts we can have in this life.
There are a lot of great qualities a friend can hold. “Safe” is one of the most important to creating a strong friendship.
We all could use a safe friend.
We can all be a safe friend, too.
~The Unraveling Blog with Kelli Bachara