Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, Nor go to your
brother's house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbour nearby than
a brother far away. – Proverbs 27v10
I like the fact that Proverbs often addresses the issue of friendship. I
like it because true friends are a major part of life. I can thinks of friends
that I have known for many decades now and it is wonderful to know that
friendships persist.
For all of its dangers, evils, and frustration Facebook has been nice because
it has allowed us to reconnect with friends that we would never have heard from
again otherwise. Mary and I recently met up with a friend I had not seen in
nearly forty years and our friendship is now stronger than it was then!
Friends are not always going to agree – that would be boring. Friends
are going to fail – so are we. Friends are going to do things that disappoint
us. Friends are going to let us down. Friends are going to make us angry.
Sometimes friends are going to have to administer a needed wound.
But true friendships are worth it. Remember that we do the same thing to
our friends. We hurt them and let them down and disappoint and fail them.
But friends are worth it. But we stick together because of the precious
nature of friendship. They are there when everyone else walks away. They are
among the most precious gifts we have. William Penn put it this way – ‘A true
friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly,
takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.’
Hold your friends dear. Stand up for them. Fight for them. Love them. Don’t
let them go. These are the kind of people you can call at 2.00 in the morning
and they will be there. One writer said that a true friend is the one who will
tell you that your face is dirty.
Treasure your friendships. The day may come when they are all you have.
No comments:
Post a Comment