However, if you don't have
authentic friendships with those who will actually keep you accountable to practicing the things the counselor suggests, you won't make it in the day to day!
4 years ago, we made some dramatic changes in the search
for authentic friendship (with Jesus and each other) and reality.
It probes with humor, warmth and depth all of the following: a volatile mother - daughter relationship, the financial strains of college, high school theater, the navigation and pursuit
of authentic friendship, the navigation and pursuit of one's authentic self, class conflict, sexual tension, the special angst of the early aughts.
I forget what the numbers are, but scores of pastors are lonely who don't have deep,
authentic friendships (not relationships merely but friendships) are pretty high.
But I'm convinced that if I can learn to be skeptical without being cynical, I will reap all the surprising benefits of true vulnerability —
authentic friendships, authentic faith, and authentic hope.
My desire and efforts to create loving and
authentic friendships have definitely paid off and I am very grateful for my current circle of friends.
While some sequences may, in isolation, seem heavy - handed — the girls dancing on the bleak Yorkshire moors, Milly's messy swan - dive off the rails — in the context of their colourful,
authentic friendship they feel entirely appropriate.