Threefold cord

"For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them."
Matthew 18.20 (AMP)


I have a passion for gathering people together! I always think that people are stronger when they have friends around. There was a period when I was at school where we moved every year, and I spent a lot of time being the 'new kid'. That period where you're new and don't have a support group of friends around you is so hard. I'm still working on conquering my feelings of self-consciousness and timidity from that, to be very honest. (Funny how it's so easy to share with the blank face of the internet!)


"Two are better than one, because they have a good [more satisfying] reward for their labor;
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
Again, if two lie down together, then they have warmth; but how can one be warm alone?
And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him.

A threefold cord is not quickly broken."
Ecclesiastes 4.9-12 (AMP)


I love gathering people together. I love choosing people who aren't connected and connecting them. I love to create a fun, relaxing environment for people to be together. I love making people feel wanted and included and important. I love when I see people who I've brought together creating lasting memories and friendships. I love seeing people flourish in the confidence that comes from knowing that they have friends who believe in them.


gath·er
v. gath·ered, gath·er·ing, gath·ers
v. tr.
To cause to come together; convene.
To accumulate (something) gradually; amass.
To harvest or pick.
To gain by a process of gradual increase: gather speed.
To collect into one place; assemble.
To pick up and enfold.
To draw about or bring (one thing) closer to something else.
To attract or be a center of attraction for.


And sometimes you find people whose hearts echo the same beat as yours - people with whom you can totally relax; people who enjoy your company as much as you enjoy theirs; who make you want to become a better person; who know what to say to make you smile, cry, be inspired, or laugh hysterically. It took me a long time to believe that I was worth having friends that wonderful, and that I was actually worth something back to them as well.


"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us."
Epicurus 341 - 270 BC


I wholeheartedly believe in fighting for friendship.

I know that sometimes there are people who are in your life for a season, and you can enjoy their time with you and then it's okay to let them go. But there are some people who you know you need to keep forever. Friendships that are worth everything, and worth fighting to keep. People who delight in your company and opinions, who invite you to lean on them when you need strength, people who completely love you just as you are.

I love to gather people like that.


"Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;"
William Shakespeare


There's something about friendship that I think reflects the heart of God. The bible says that when God created Adam, he realised that it was not good for man to be alone, so he created Eve. We are created for fellowship, our hearts ache for friendship.

My heart is aching a little at the moment.