The Power and Influence of Female Friendship

I’ve been thinking about the vital need for and blessing of female friendship lately. In fact, one of my favorite poems about friends is from Robert Frost. It’s tucked in a strip of fabric ribbon on my Love Board. And although I empty my board at the start of each new year to allow for incoming notes and mementos of love and happiness, I keep this friendship poem on the board regardless.

​​When a friend calls to me from the road 
And slows his horse to a meaning walk, 
I don’t stand still and look around 
On all the hills I haven’t hoed, 
And shout from where I am, What is it? 
No, not as there is a time to talk. 
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground, 
Blade-end up and five feet tall, 
And plod: I go up to the stone wall 
For a friendly visit. 

This came to mind again and I had to wonder why. Maybe it’s because of sick children this past week and I haven’t been able to connect with friends like usual. Or maybe it’s because life has been happily busy with good things and I haven’t been open to those spontaneous stops to drop by pumpkin bread or pretty pink mums.
I think mostly it’s because in the last several months my female friendship has had a profound influence on me. Women are incredibly intuitive, almost in a “Well, of course, what’s so special about that” way. And as I connect with them, learn from their thought process, feel of their beautiful hearts, and partake of their very real and nurturing energy and spirit, I’m overwhelmed by the goodness that a woman gives by daily being herself.
And she doesn’t even realize it.
Perhaps that’s what makes being friends with a woman something that both men and women want and need, as research confirms. Both genders are shown to feel significantly better after being in the company of a good woman.
For myself, lately women have blessed my life in very particular ways. Just in the past week or so, here are a few: one friend showed me by example a humble response to an unwarranted blistering put-down. Instead of getting angry, she searched for personal truth and how to helpfully and lovingly respond. Several friends, knowing how I feel about helping women and families, unhesitatingly offered their time and talents to assist, without thought of compensation and even though they already serve others tremendously.
Another friend, who has begun doing events for women, and who could have viewed me as “competition,” followed a prompting and told a gal to attend my class as she felt it would help her best. In the class (and unbeknownst to me) this gal’s name was drawn for the free monthly program, which brought her to tears and a confirmation of personal knowledge.
I seriously could go on and on, and this is only in a short time and a fraction of the ways women’s friendship has blessed my and thereby others’ lives. The desire to do good, natural nurturing, instinctive support, deep connection, positive affirmation, and sweet spontaneous service are all part of what being a female friend is about. Is it any wonder we desire to spend time with and be more like such women?
Today, I simply want to thank you, each one of you, for being that kind of friend. Because you have. To someone, somewhere, in your life, and likely without realizing or fanfare, you have been exactly that kind of friend. And most likely when it wasn’t convenient, and possibly with great sacrifice. I hope today, you can pause and reflect on how joyful it feels to be capable of that kind of loving. And to feel in your soul the joy of knowing how you have blessed, over and over in countless moments and smiles and touches, the lives of those around you.
Love,
Connie