Dreamy Friends

I had lunch with two pastor friends this weekend at one of their homes. We were catching up about life and ministry, and sharing our various dreams and plans for our futures. It was during this meal that I realized how highly I value my “dreamy friends” these days. These are the friends who create space for me to share my biggest, most fanciful dreams for my life and then they hold my excitement with me. These are the friends who guide me when it’s time to make big life decisions because they remind me of my dreams and steer me back. They watch my dreams evolve and serve as witnesses more than watchmen. Not by coincidence, these are also my most faithful friends who look for God around every corner and draw me back to noticing where God is moving in my life.

While studying Exodus recently, I was struck by what we can learn from the friendship between Moses and Aaron. The two were brothers, but they hadn’t grown up together and likely didn’t live near each other after Moses fled Egypt. In the 4th chapter of Exodus, Moses and God have an impassioned exchange where Moses begs God to send someone else to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses pleads that he is “slow of speech and tongue,” making him ill-equipped for the task at hand. We are then told that God’s “anger burned against Moses” and God suggests that Moses work with his bother Aaron, who is more eloquent. God then describes how the two will work together to bring the Israelites out of slavery and toward the promised land. The two certainly had their struggles, but they were able to accomplish more together than either could have accomplished on his own.

God didn’t just call Moses to this holy task on his own. God provided for Moses and Aaron to work together to accomplish an unimaginable feat. It is easy to believe that we are on our own unique paths forward in life, running parallel to those around us. It’s easy to think that we’re walking through life near our friends. When we become “dreamy friends” for each other, we walk with. Our paths become intertwined, even if moving in different directions. When we share our dreams with our friends, we offer up a piece of our soul for them to see. The right friends joyfully accept the invitation and accompany you on the path of your dreams.

Text copyright © 2023 Grace Woodward. All rights reserved.