February is love month. I am thankful For the times that I’ve bonded with friends from school and from church; friends from the past and friends in recent years; young friends and those young once.
As I think about our friendship, I remember n high school, one of the often seen proverbs on our classroom walls is “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” My friends and I, we’ve gone through thick and thin, good times and bad. In our journey, we stuck together not only because we’re birds of the same feather.
While it is true that we might have common interests (eating, chatting, music), common ministries (singing, ringing, teaching), common grounds (school or church), we are friends because God blesses us with His love which we share with each other. We carry each other’s burdens.
Among my high school friends, some have health issues, a few lost their children and loved ones, others struggle in their relationships. We all have our challenges in life. It is in our weaknesses that our bond gets stronger. We are not ashamed to let our friends see our struggles and our failures. We ask for forgiveness and we forgive. We treat those with physical disabilities with special care and concern. We share funny stories of ourselves, about our life which we would not tell acquaintances. We dare to do so because we are safe with each other’s secrets. We know we will not be judged. On the other hand, we are brave to rebuke/correct and tell the truth in love. We are also brave to admit our faults.
Friendship is a two-way street. It is give and take. Yes, we are taught it is better to give than to receive. But often, we need to give by receiving. I give my friends the joy of giving when I receive their gifts of time and effort graciously. My friends give me the pleasure of sharing my blessings with them.
Friendship transcends time and space. While we prefer new things, and seek to make new friends, old friends are a treasure. Friendship ages like wine – the older the better. My childhood friends are not always with me. We do not live near each other. We do not even see each other face to face in years. Yet we pick up anywhere anytime like old times. FB is a great tool that helps bring friends together through time and space. It keeps us connected.
Finally, friendship is God’s gift. Just as He seeks to have a relationship with us, God gives us friends because it is not good for man to be alone. It is not because we will be lonely. We can be lonely even in a crowd. But we are never alone knowing we have friends to carry us through. God is good to me – He blessed me with family and friends just as He gives me Jesus – the most wonderful Friend I could wish for.