Friends

My dad once told me that a person is extremely blessed to have just one true friend in life. The person who has two true friends is doubly blessed indeed! Of course I didn't believe him when I was a teenager... I knew everything back then - didn't we all? Ha! We make many acquaintances thru out our lives. People pass into and out of our circle over the years like water flowing under a bridge. Most of these people we may call our friends but in reality they are simply people to whom we have been introduced and with whom we have shared time. As I have grown older, I understand what my dad was talking about. A friend is so much more than simply an acquaintance. It’s someone who will be there whether times or good or bad. Like King Solomon said, “A friend loves at all times” (Prov. 17:17). A friend is someone who, although distance and time may separate you, one second of being reconnected and it’s like you were never apart.  A friend tells you the truth even when it hurts. That’s what King Solomon was talking about when he also wrote, “The wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive” (Prov. 27:6). A friend won't run away when you face trouble. A friend will stand shoulder to shoulder with you even though they may be threatened and scared. But true friendship doesn’t happen automatically. It takes an investment of your love and trust. You have to be a friend in order to gain a friend. You have to be willing to be transparent and vulnerable. That’s not easy nor is it comfortable, but it’s necessary if you want to have more than casual acquaintances in your life. It’s the same way with a relationship with Jesus. In order to know Him, you have to expose your heart to His grace and surrender to His plan for your life. But when you do so, you make a friend for eternity. And the Bible tells us that He “is a friend that sticks closer than a brother”. I am truly thankful for those I can call friends. I am wonderfully blessed.

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