A keepsake that I obtained at a funeral has helped me to understand friendship. It’s contents described the traits of friendship; caring enough about each other to gather regularly, think together, discuss together, pray together, and play together.
Friendship has a purpose: to learn to love unconditionally, serve God and not money, give without seeking a return, empower and not control, show mercy not revenge, seek justice and freedom for all, encourage and not discourage, spread hope and not despair, believe and not doubt. Friends establish a “revolution of love” that is so powerful that division and animosity is greatly eliminated and replaced by the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation…Jesus. Friends think, talk, act, and love like Jesus so that others can see the invisible, believe the incredible, and do the impossible. On a daily basis friends learn what it means to “love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves”.
Proverbs 18:24 (Msg) - “Frends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family”. I praise God that I have such a large family of friends.
