How to Refresh Your Friend Group and Strengthen Your Christian Community This Spring

As we enter this new season of Spring, I can’t help but think about all the new things I want to focus on. I want a renewed mindset and perspective, and I want renewed energy and vitality, and I want a renewed vision and purpose for my life. 

But one thing that has really been on my heart is the newness of relationships, friendships, and community. I want a renewed commitment and appreciation for the ones I have and the ones that may come, as well as renewed discernment for the ones that are no longer serving me in this season. 

I think sometimes we can get so stuck and caught up in the normalcy and complacency of both routine and relationships that we forget to “tend our garden,” so to speak.

Just like anything worth harvesting in our life, relationships are one of those things that, if not watered, toiled, and attended to, can leave us dry and fruitless. 

So this Spring, I am not only cleaning out my closet, choosing more whole and natural foods, and recommitting to my morning walks, but I am also doing a full inventory sweep and refresh of my relationships. 

Which relationships have I neglected? Which ones need more love and attention? And the hardest one of all, which ones are draining me and no longer bearing good fruit in this season? 

After much prayer and reflection, I’ve identified three relational spheres God is calling me to examine and renew: My Garden, My Circle, and My Community. 

 

My Garden: Strengthening Close Relationships

From the very beginning, God designed us for relationship. 

In the Garden of Eden, Adam walked with God, but still the Lord said, ‘‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18). 

God placed Eve in Adam’s life as a reflection of divine companionship and human need. Our immediate relationships—spouses, children, close family—are part of our first ministry. 

Before I look outward, I have to look inward: Am I tending to my own garden? 

Sometimes the ones right under our noses are the ones we take for granted and don’t tend to enough. 

So the first and most important thing to do is to look at my own garden. Who are the immediate people in my life right now that God has placed for me to love on, support and care for?  

These are the people God has strategically placed in my life for my own benefit and plan. My two teenage boys and my husband are my garden right now. It’s time to do an inventory check and see how I am spending my time with them. 

Am I present, available, and intentional? Am I creating opportunities for bonding, laughter, joy, and hard conversations? 

Relationships close to home always require the most work, but bring the greatest reward when rooted in love. 

As Proverbs reminds us, “He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 27:18). 

We must water what we want to see grow.

My Circle: Reevaluating Your Friend Group

Jesus is the perfect model of One who cultivated and valued intentional friendship. He chose twelve to journey with Him—teaching, laughing, praying, and weeping together. He had His sacred circle of three (Peter, James, and John) who were not perfect but who were present. 

Who is in your circle? Who do you turn to when prayer, support, and joy?  

We need a circle, people we can lean on, who can pray for us, and who we can show up when we need them the most. 

And just as important, who might God be gently asking you to release from your inner circle in this season? 

In Wisdom, God’s Word says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). 

If you don’t have that inner circle yet, ask God to provide it. If you do, make sure you thank Him for it, invest in it, and pray that He strengthens it.

My Community: Your Role in the Body of Christ

Community is so important, and being part of one is integral to a healthy and robust life. Before creation itself, God existed in perfect relationship— The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit in eternal communion.

We were also created to reflect that same divine community.

When we are part of a community, we perfect the body of Christ by offering our part to complete it. When we live in unity, we benefit each other, and our love and communion with Christ allow us to be brothers and sisters in a much larger, eternal family.  

As Paul says in Romans, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5). 

The beauty of a community of believers is that together, we collectively make up the Body of Christ, with all our unique personalities, gifts, talents, and yes, even our quirks. 

We are not meant to carry our troubles alone but to reflect the hallmark of Christ’s sacrificial love, fulfilling the law of Christ by serving and caring for one another.  

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). 

When we are part of a community of believers in the Church, we mirror Christ’s love for His Body and fulfil our purpose and calling in love.  

When our love is sacrificial, unifying, constant, and forgiving, we become His disciples and reflect His love. 

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 

• “Behold, how good and how pleasant is it for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:3

So this season I ask myself, am I living in unity with my community, serving them, walking alongside them, and striving to bring them closer to Christ? 

Are there certain areas in my community that I am being called to show up more, reach the forgotten, lost, and lonely, and lift others up? 

I pray that God opens my eyes to see how I can better love and serve those He has placed in my community and to embrace them with grace and intentionality.  

This Spring, let’s pray for a renewed heart in our relationships and ask the Lord to lead us into deeper, meaningful, and life-giving connections that glorify His Name! 

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Want to take a step toward building community? We’d love for you to join our Joyful 50 Bible Study Challenge! The challenge includes 50 days studying God’s Word between the Resurrection and Pentecost and weekly check-ins with a circle of women. Plus, encouragement, prayer, and joy shared together!