When is the last time that you went shopping for a pair of pants? Does anyone else get discouraged like I do that after fifty trips to the dressing room you are still left empty handed? It isn't that I can't find anything to fit my "mom" hips, a pair long enough for my tall frame, or even that I can't find a few pairs to fit my chicken legs. But there are few jeans that can do all three. And even fewer that can attractively do all three. I was reminded of this fact when I recently perused the racks after receiving a few gift cards for Christmas. I am sure it was confusing for the other women in the dressing room to hear laughter coming from one of the stalls, but when I try on a pair of jeans "my size" and it looks like I am getting ready for the great flood- it is hard not to laugh. And for those who know me, you know that my laugh can be heard from miles away so there is no keeping it to myself. Thanks Mom for that!
All of this got me thinking of a movie that came out quite a few years back. One I admittedly have never seen but it's storyline was interesting none-the-less. It was called "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". I am sure that you have heard of it. In this movie there are these magical pair of jeans. How do I know that they are magical? Because they fit four friends who are different shapes and sizes, perfectly. My sister and I don't even fit each other's pants perfectly! Magic I tell you. And by magic I mean that the movie crew bought a few pairs of the same jeans in different sizes so that it would appear that they were all passing around one pair of pants. Myth busted!
Anywho, it got me thinking about friendship and girls in general. Too often it isn't a pair of pants I see being passed around, if we were to make a movie based on real life we could more accurately call it "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Past". Why is it that girls are so hard on eachother? A school campus is like a war-zone with every girl for herself. We judge a girl by what we've heard about her before even getting to know her. And, even worse, we are at competition with one another- waiting for someone else to fail so that way we look better. I wish that I could say that it gets better after high school but the truth is that I see it among women everyday. Something happens over the weekend and by the time Monday rolls around everyone knows about it. Oh-em-gossip ladies! Let's make a choice to keep other people's business out of our conversations!
This type of behavior is not what God intended when he created women. We were not meant to be competition with one another, but to be friends and comrades. A sisterhood. We are all facing the same image-is-everything, self-centered, media driven world and it is time we linked arms, putting aside our pasts, and stood up for eachother. It's all about love, girls, LOVE. It is the only commandment we were given in the New Testament. To love God and to love people. The kind of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 that "keeps no record of wrong" and "believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things." Although we may only apply this type of thinking to a dating or marriage relationship, the truth is that these words were written to instruct us how to treat everyone. The girl who has given herself away too many times to count needs your love, the girl who bullies others to feel superior needs your love, the girl who shares gossip like she gets paid to needs your love, the girl who is mysteriously quiet and reserved needs your love and the girl who pretends to have it all together needs your love. They need the love that believes in them, hopes for them, and endures with them. They need the kind of love that doesn't hold their past over their heads or join in when others turn their backs on them. They need a sisterhood. We all do.
This love should be the thing that we all pass around. And believe me, it looks good on everybody! So with the best of my ability, you can trust that I will have your back. I will speak well of you, believe the best for you, and encourage or challenge you to become the women that God made you to be. I will not allow myself to feel let down or offended by your choices, hurt or rejected by your words. I will forgive you no matter the circumstance, knowing that I daily am in need of forgiveness. I will believe in you. I will pray for you. And even (or in some cases- especially) if the feeling is not mutual, I will love you.
Luke 6:35
I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return.
You’ll never—I promise—regret it. Live out this God-created
identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously,
even when we’re at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind.
(The MESSAGE)
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