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Intimacy is not only reserved for a dating or a married relationship. It was actually created to be experienced in every sort of relationship.
Intimacy Within Friendships
Katey Reiff
Intimacy – that close connection with another person – a feeling we all deeply crave.
“Intimacy” – a little word that packs a punch – can leave many of us feeling uncomfortable due to the fact that we most often associate ‘intimacy’ with reference to sexual relations, however, this is not always the case. In fact, Webster’s definition of intimacy defines sexual intercourse as merely ONE intimate act, inferring that there are many others!
It defines intimacy as:
- close familiarity or friendship; closeness
- a private cozy atmosphere.
- an intimate act, especially sexual intercourse.
How would you define intimacy? How do you perceive that word?
Vulnerability Leads to Emotional Intimacy
A while back, our team’s devotional focused on intimacy within friendship, and it was the first time that I really thought about the idea of being intimate with someone besides a boyfriend.
Up until this point, I have defined intimacy as the physical expression of love and affection between others. I saw this take the form of a smile, a hug, a touch, a kiss or anything used to express love for another individual. So, what stood out to me during this devotional was this idea of being intimate with someone emotionally – a key part of that being vulnerability.
This idea of allowing myself to be completely vulnerable with others was scary.
The intimacy we share in friendship is so often expressed in small measurements – a little bit one day, maybe a tad more the next, not so much today, and so forth. Based on how we perceive others around us, the level of intimacy we allow ourselves to share changes. I would argue that a reason for this is due to comparison and jealousy- something I think we all can admit affects us in some way.
Ephesians 4:7 says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
What if we all lived knowing that the grace we have been given had been uniquely gifted to us for a reason?
Do you think living with that perspective would help us quit playing the comparison game for good?
I believe it is this comparison and jealously that shuts us down from experiencing more intimacy within friendships.
The Lord created us to be vulnerable (think, He made Adam and Eve with no clothes!) and experience deep intimacy and friendship with one another. This is the only true way of being in the world and in relationship with one another; no other path will allow us to take our friendships to a level of true intimacy.
Moving forward, I challenge you to turn your back on the enemy when he tempts you with thoughts of comparison.
Our Hub Contributors are women who share their passion and perspective with us by writing articles for our HUB. We love opening up our platform to create space to hear other voices and let our audience be discipled by a variety of people. If you are interested in writing for the HUB, please send us an email at livesalted@gmail.com.
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