Friends

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity" Proverbs 17:17

Over the course of my life, some of my friends have weathered storms with me while others have gotten lost in the storm or they saw it and decided to flee. My longest friend is a friend I have had since I was in the second grade. She is a friend I have learned to love and grow with over the span of our friendship as we have lived in different cities, graduated from different high schools and attended different universities. My friendship with her required little effort and much trust.

Fast forwarding to my freshman year of college where I found a best friend. I had to build a relationship with my her before we became friends. We both came from broken places, different backgrounds but the same struggle: trusting others. I found there was no way for me to actually escape her as we ended up becoming roommates! My friendship with her required much fighting, most of the time I was fighting the urge to take flight and flee from the relationship and potential friendship I could see forming.

I had trust issues, I had seen people come and go, no one ever seemed to stay long. She too had trust issues and her past experiences told her she could not trust me yet there was something in us both (the Holy Spirit) that told us it was okay, so we fought for a relationship despite what our past experiences reminded us of and stopped fleeing as much as we once did. Now we are best friends.

Some friendships form organically and do not require much fighting. Some friendships lack the relational aspect so in moments of chaos or in times of need the people we thought were friends flee. Then there are friendships that are ordained by the Lord and require more fighting and fleeing but also less fleeing. Fighting for what the Lord wants for us, more fleeing from the bondage of our past experiences or from friendships that are no good for us and less fleeing from fear of what will be.

Another translation of the scripture mentioned above reads, "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need"

Examine those you call friends, who are you fighting for and who is fighting for you? Are there any friends or relationships you need to flee from?

I will leave us with a prayer,

Father I thank You for Your loving-kindness and for Your grace. I pray that as I look on the friends I have You would show me if there are any friendships I have lacking relational aspects. If so would You help me strengthen them? Would You show me which friendships I should fight for and which friendships I should flee from? My relationship with You Lord, I want it to be relational as well, would You help me spend more time in prayer speaking to You? Would You help me clear my heart and mind so I can hear You throughout my day? I want my earthly friendships to be relational and good for me just as I want my relationship with You to be relational and to call You friend.

I pray and ask all of these things in Jesus' name,

                                                                  Amen