Friendship

Lately, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the word "friendship". I have been more than blessed to always have a few people that I consider my "true friends" and have looked at those relationships as true gifts from God. I have considered friends to be people I have at least one thing, if not several things, in common with as well as people who I can laugh with, cry with and be totally and insanely goofy with (and yes, I know that "with" is a preposition and not correct at the end of a sentence, but this is how I would tell you in person!). Friends have come to my rescue, especially these last few weeks. . . offering words of hope and encouragement through email, texts and facebook messages; greeting me at the finish line to hug and give me chocolate milk when my muscles were sore; watching my girlies so I could focus on much needed packing or much needed rest from illness; providing adult conversation during long days and weeks while my hubby drives through this school thing with two jobs on top of that.

Friends are necessities. God knew we needed friends. In the beginning, he looked at Adam and knew the animals weren't gonna cut it, so he made Eve. And ultimately, He sent His son Jesus, who didn't have to have friends, but made the choice to draw close to people because he desired relationship to make His stay on earth a bit more interesting and to model our need for the same thing. As precious as my friends continue to be in my life, when one fails, as we all do in our relationships, I always am reminded of Proverbs 18:24, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." That friend is Jesus and when I am tempted to place too much expectation on my earthly friends, I remind myself that friends are important, but Jesus is truth and will never fail or leave me.