Underwear. We all wear it and need it, I’m guessing. You can find it in many varieties: large, small, colored or white, old, new, fancy and simple. Underwear is the closest thing to us; just like my underwear friends. Underwear friends knit us together when the wedgies of life cause us to come apart at the seams.
Poops is my chief underwear friend. That’s right – you heard me right. That’s her real nickname! Who could make that up? Poops began her underwear ministry 30 years ago when I first left for Bolivia, and has bought me underwear ever since. She is an experienced and proficient shopper and knows how to buy underwear that is pretty, comfy, and never gives you a wedgie. Poops is like that too, always pretty, comfy to be around, and never gets her undies in a bundle - a faithful friend.
Poops has bought me everything from Cuddl Duds so I’m warm, to spandex to gird me up. When I shared with her that a friend had deeply hurt me, she had words of wisdom for me. “We are all imperfect. When a friend gives you a wedgie forgive them, but first pluck out your own wedgie before attempting to pluck out your sister’s.” Yikes, how many wedgies have I allowed to creep up on my friends?
Are you blessed to have them too, friends like Louise? She sewed my underwear and gave me a needling when I needed it. A friend who spoke the truth in love, even though it pinched a bit, but snapped me into reality when I was down. There’s Cookie, who lets me sit on her couch and vent. And Lois, who washed and line dried my laundry - underwear included - when I just didn’t have the time. Occasionally, on our furloughs, we are so busy I carry our dirty laundry with me. I have friends who lift the burdens, like a girdle. Their washers cleanse away the dirt while we visit and our time together washes away the stress.
They do all sorts of things for us, those underwear friends. They are churches, ladies’ groups, and Sunday school classes filled with people who love us and give us a sense of home. You know them: those who manage the home office, supporters and prayer partners; they invite you to meals or take you shopping, and write you emails. They sit and listen for hours to our stories and allow us to fall asleep on their couches.
We are given precious memories of game nights, laughing into the wee hours, and a Christmas in October especially for us. When we need a ride to the airport or hospital they are ready, and they even open their homes so we have a place to lay our heads. They are Jesus on earth for us, our blessings of unconditional love.
We all need underwear friends, because we are all in the battle. In the Women of Faith book, Friendship – Cultivating the Relationships That Enrich Our Lives, author Margaret Feinberg writes that friends are like treasures. She says, “The best kinds of friends in life are those who love us despite our wrinkles and warts. They have a knack for drawing the best out of us and challenging us to grow into all we were meant to be in our journey of life and faith.”
My underwear friends are my treasures who enrich my life. They make a difference in God’s work and my life. Without underwear friends, the gospel cannot go into all the world. I am a better servant because of them, and they - the foundation of my ministry - are my treasures. Side by side in the battle, we draw strength from each other to serve our Lord together.
Psalms 18:39 says, “Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle.”
I thank God for my underwear friends; they lift, support, squeeze, and even pinch me if necessary. They are God’s resources that gird up my proverbial loins for the battle. I can throw away my girdle, because they are the best option to gird me up.
~ Peggy J Cunningham
