What does it mean to be a friend?
This question invites us to consider the intersection of maternal love and friendship. Scripture paints the image of friendship as a shelter. Sirach 6:14 states, A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter. In one sense, two friends can relate to one another as sisters, both harboring a safe and encouraging place for the other to find strength at certain times and respite at others.
In my previous blog post, I quoted Edith Stein saying: “A woman’s soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold.” As Stein portrays on the train to Auschwitz, brushing the hair of the young girls whose mothers had become incapacitated in their distress, we see that each woman is also called to be a mother at all times and to all people. This extends beyond her children to the friend in need, her husband, and even her community. The value of friendship is enough to warrant text in Scripture.
Recently, I was given the opportunity to experience the depth of friendship in the maternal soul. When a dear friend had emergency surgery and needed support, I felt the call to go and be present with her. More than a phone call was needed, and I wouldn’t be satisfied until I was able to hug her and speak directly to her, face-to-face. It would be a long drive to her farm in the Hudson Valley of New York from Virginia, but it would be worth it. My kids were unwavering in their consent to join me in this endeavor and to bring whatever help and comfort that they could. They held their tongues from complaining on the car ride and kept one another’s spirits up. On the farm, they milked the goat, cleaned the chicken coop, weeded flower beds, dumped loads of weeds, and enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
It felt human to step away from the obligations of everyday life and be with another. This is to say that our lives are often at the service of an oppressive and consuming busyness, which prevents us from having time for those outside of our schedules, and it can prevent us from seeing the needs of the suffering person right in front of us. It felt strangely human to embrace humanity by stepping off the wheel and letting time go by and to be the shelter for a friend.
Read more by Kimberly Cook @ https://kimberlycookdelineates.substack.com/
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