Helpful Tip Tuesday: Relationships

From Head to Heart

* Practice being present with a friend. Stop everything and be there. Put your cell phone on vibrate. If possible, don't multitask, even if you feel like you can do something else and listen at the same time. Let her know that you are there by your body language and eye contact. Ask follow-up questions.

* Practice being present with yourself. When possible, drive in the car without the radio on. Sit still without reading or watching television. Start small, but become comfortable with longer periods of silence and solitude.

* Practice being present with God. Pour out your heart but then take time to listen. Or simply imagine you are leaning up against Jesus like his disciple John (John 13:25). Breathe out your worries and breathe in his peace.

* Imagine yourself stepping to the throne of grace with your feelings of shame and unworthiness. Now, picture him smiling and delighting in you because you are his beloved daughter.

* Call someone just to talk through your feelings.

* Call someone and ask for specific prayer.

* When people ask you to pray for them, offer to pray with them right then.

* Send a card, text, or email that says, "I have prayed for you." That is so much more comforting than, "I will pray for you."

* Collect your friends' Christmas card photos and put them on the fridge or a bulletin board nearby. Whenever your eyes land up on a family, send up a quick prayer for them.

* If a sermon touches you at church, buy the CD and send it to a friend. If a book helps you grow, buy one for a friend.

*Send a box of "withness" to a friend. Collect a handful of little gifts, wrap them individually, put a sweet note on each package, box them all up, and deliver it to a friend who needs a friend to be with her during a lonely or hard time.

* Consider attempting to reconcile a broken friendship.

* Think of the kind of friendships you would like to have and ask God to provide that kind of friend.

~Taken from Friendships for Grown-Ups, pg. 211-212