Recognizing “Threefold Cord” Kind of Friends

*This devotional was first shared on The Round Farmhouse Ministries Facebook and Instagram pages on July 3rd, 2024. For more daily encouragement, check out The Round Farmhouse social media posts.

Ephesians 4:12b ESV “A threefold cord is not easily broken.”

When you reach the halfway point in your career as a teacher, something beautiful begins to happen. Some of your former students become your fellow co-workers. A few years ago, one of my former sixth grade math students, Brooke, became a special education teacher in the building where I served as an instructional coach.

Through our first year together, I helped her process through phonics resources and instructional methods. We adapted the materials to best meet the needs of her students. As a special education teacher, her students experienced a myriad of neurodiversities. As I helped her match the resources with what her students were ready to learn, she taught me life-changing lessons about emotional regulation, sensory processing disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. She showed me how to look beyond the surface of the behaviors to discover the events that triggered big emotions in our students.

What I didn’t know then was how these experiences would empower me to help my own neurodiverse child. When our own preschool aged child experienced big emotions and sensory meltdowns, there was more happening inside his body than what I could see. These sensitivities and experiences were real. Brooke empowered me with techniques to help rewire his brain and body to experience daily life without being overwhelmed. Our child might be on the gifted end of IQ instead of lower cognitive development, however, his body experienced similar challenges as other people with other hidden disabilities may experience.

With Brooke’s patience and expertise, her love for the Lord, and the value she placed on unique children, she helped me experience what Solomon describes in Ecclesiastes 4:9 as “a threefold cord is not easily broken.”

If not for our strong relationship before our son’s struggles surfaced, I may not have felt as comfortable to authentically share what we were going through. I might have felt like I needed to hold back and have kept trying to fix things myself. However, I am thankful for the ways the Lord has taught me to be open to learn from others, no matter our age difference.

Although our son has grown in incredible ways and no longer needs noise canceling headphones, visual hourglass timers, and weighted tools, I am empowered to notice neurodiversities and use these resources to help other children. I might have originally been in the role of mentor; however, my mentee taught me life-changing truths and trusted God with us through the process. I will forever be thankful for my “threefold cord friend” Brooke.

Lord, please help us recognize the “threefold cord friends” that You have already placed in our lives and help us to see how we can be that kind of life-giving friend, too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.