The Seven Crucibles

The Support Crucible

This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:17

When times are tough, do you know who's in your corner? Which people can you rely on to pick you up when you can't do it yourself?

They are the ones who know you inside and out and have committed to you just as much as you have committed to them. And that means a commitment on the highest level, which only a few people in your life will ever reach.

It's easy to be a friend and supportive when things are going well. But true friendship and support can only be forged under extreme heat and pressure.

The Support Crucible is all about forging your inner circle. You must have friends and family in place who are going to support you regardless of your successes or failures. Quality over quantity is critical. Fortunately, over time, you develop a knack for knowing who really cares and who's just along for the ride.

Think of the levels of support you receive as a series of circles, one large circle leading to a smaller circle, which leads to another smaller circle and so on. At the outermost circle are the people who are very casual in their relationship with you. This may be people who only follow you on social media, your coworkers, or people you may run into rarely from time to time.  These are your casual acquaintances.

The next innermost circle are friends you see, perhaps on a regular basis, as time allows. You share lots of friends and beliefs in common. This may be college frat or sorority friends, people ...