Friendship and its rewards

Perhaps, you don't need to be convinced, but friendship offers rich rewards. Consider these comments:

It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.  With the death of every friend I love a part of me has been buried, but their contribution to my being of happiness, strength and understanding remains to sustain me in an altered world. 

I guess you have experienced these truths about friendship! We appreciate God for those wonderful gifts. The value
of friendship extends beyond emotional closeness and connectedness. Research has shown that lonely people live significantly shorter lives than the general population. Friendship is the springboard to every other love. Friendships spill over onto the other important relationships of life. People with no friends usually have diminished capacity for sustaining any kind of love. They tend to go through a succession of marriages, be estranged from various family members, and have trouble getting along at work. Contrarily, those who learn how to love their friends tend to make long and fulfilling marriage, get along well with the people at work and enjoy their children also.

Meanwhile, I strongly encourage you to cultivate friendship with your partner(your woman) regardless what you or your partner's past experiences of friendship are. 

What do you think of friendship? You think it's someone who goes fishing, plays tennis or goes to a basketball game with you. For men, friendship is all about shared activities as the only point but I need to remind you that Christian men can take male friendships to a deeper level. You can come to a point of real honesty, transparency and loyalty that makes friendship a source of important accountability and encouragement.

It may also interest you that many men today who are seemingly without friends. They simply don't have time for friendship. The fact is that men without friends, if they are honest, experience a real emotional void in their lives. Also too often competition rears it's head. 

Meanwhile, for various reasons men often experience a degree and cautiousness around each other. And job title can also interfere with cultivating a friendship until men view one another as God's creation.

However, women have an easier time with friendships and have experienced different levels of friendship than men do. There are certain things our culture permits, for instance our culture permits women to be closer to each other than men can be with with one another. Women can hug, cry, hold hands and interlock their arms as the work down the street but men are not as free to do these things.

Because men are activity- oriented and women are rationally oriented, how can the gap be bridged to make sure they become friends with their partner(their woman)? The "how" is simple, get interested in her activities. That's one way you can be her friend. You have to be a friend in order to have a friend. After all, life is all about give and take.

See related posts, "How to know when she needs your reassurance" "Five tips for investing in her"
See also "Finding friends"