166: The Importance Of Friendship In Your Daily Life

Friendship can enrich your life in many ways. Good friends teach you about yourself and challenge you to be better. They encourage you to keep going when times get tough and celebrate your successes with you. But friends do a lot more than give you a shoulder to cry on; they also positively impact your health. Some research even says friendships are just as crucial to your well-being as eating right and exercising.

If friendships are so impactful and beneficial to our lives, shouldn’t we be talking about them more often? In episode 166, we talk about three relationships you can cultivate daily: friendship with Jesus, your spouse, and others.

In This Episode, You’ll Hear About the following:

• The health implications of loneliness
• How friendships can enrich your life in many ways
• The characteristics of deep friendship with Jesus, with your spouse, and with others
• How you can cultivate a more profound friendship with Jesus, your spouse, and others

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• Listen to our previous episode about the importance of the Sabbath in Establishing Family Rhythms Through Sabbath and Celebration
• Want to hear more about friendships? Listen to:
  • Why Friendship Still Matters
  • Adult Friendships 101: What They Didn’t Teach You In School
  • Adult Friendships 201: Why Some Friendships Change Over Time (And How To Be Okay With It)

Quotes And Tweets:

• Two ways that we can cultivate a deeper friendship with Jesus are through prayer and playing. @imbetweenshow
• Jesus is always attentive to us. We must learn to be attentive to Him to cultivate a deeper friendship. @imbetweenshow
• Prayer is how we talk to Jesus, reading the Bible is how Jesus talks to us, and praying the Scriptures is how we learn to talk like Jesus. @imbetweenshow
• Dr. Gottman asserts that couples who enjoy deep knowledge of one another are better prepared to cope with both life and marriage relationship ups and downs. @imbetweenshow
• Stay curious about your spouse and ask questions of one another. Don’t just ask, “How was your day?” but also “How’s your life lately?” @imbetweenshow

Questions FOr Personal Reflection:

• On the spectrum of friendship, how would you describe your relationship with Jesus?
  • Are you acquaintances?
  • Are you casual friends?
  • Are you friends?
  • Are you deep friends?
• What kind of friendship would you like with Jesus? How do you think Jesus sees you?
• What is one way you can “stay curious” about your spouse this week?
• What step can you take to invest in a (new or old) friendship this week?

Discussion prompts For YOu As A Couple:

• Carve out some time this week to ask deeper questions like:
  • What is God teaching you lately?
  • Is there anything you are dreaming about doing?
  • Is anything bringing you joy?
  • What is something that you are looking forward to?
  • What is causing you to lose sleep these days?
  • What is something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t yet, and how can we make that happen together?

Questions To Ask New Friends About:

• What is your life story?
• Do you know much about your great-grandparents?
• Did you always grow up in this city? If not, where else have you lived?
• What do you do in your free time?
• What’s a show or movie you’ve watched or a book you’ve read recently?