Be Intentional

If you've been reading this blog for a while, and you've read any of my posts about friendship, you've definitely seen me say 'be intentional'. And I'm going to keep saying it! I've found that this is one of the most important things in friendships, and it is something that I have learned over & over again over the past few years. To me, being intentional is putting effort and time into a relationship purposefully. It's not just waiting around and hoping you become friends with someone or wishing you saw your friends more and not actually doing anything about it.

Being intentional can look different for different relationships, based on what you're like and what the other person is like. I've written various specific ways to be intentional below, but there are so many more than just what I can come up with!

- Ask someone how you can pray for them. I've started asking my friends how I can pray for them more over the past few months, as well as asking more & more people, and it's been a great step for me! I feel that I am more invested in their lives and that we've grown closer over sharing our requests & praises.

- Write a long email/letter once a week to your friend.

- Bring an extra snack to school/practice/whatever you do to give to them.

- Have a specific thing that is yours. For example, my friend and I have a list of restaurants we want to try together, and we cross them off once we've been there. This tradition of having lunch dates together has been one that I love and that has given us valuable time and conversations together. Another thing is that while I've spent time in the States, I've had a group of friends that I will go swing dancing with, and that's kind of our thing. I know that if I ask, most of the same people will go, and we'll all have a great time!

- Ask to study together before a big test!

- Send your friend songs that you like or that remind you of them!

- Sign up for something together, whether that's a sport, a serving opportunity, a class, or something else! In eighth grade, I signed up to play on my school's soccer team, even though I wasn't that good, to do it with my friends! We ended up having lots of fun together and bonding over workouts and drills and bus rides to and from games.

- Share the highs/lows (or bests/worsts or roses/thorns) of your week with each other every week.

- Call someone instead of texting them.

- Buy a surprise gift for someone! Wouldn't you love to be on the other end of that?! It doesn't have to be anything large & grand, maybe something as simple as a candy bar, or maybe a book you saw that made you think of them. Whatever it is, it's sure to mean a lot to your friend and show them that you care!

- Work out together! Go for a run, do some stretching, whatever you're into. This will also help keep you accountable for working out.

- Send your friend memes! While this may not necessarily result in a super deep friendship, it is so much fun. I have two friends, and almost our entire DMs on Instagram are sending memes and reels back and forth. This has resulted in some real belly laughs and some great entertainment after spending some time away from my phone.

I would love for you to share some ways that you are intentional or want to be intentional with your friendships in the comments! I hope that you keep in mind how intentional you are with your friendships and think about if you need to be more intentional in some relationships.