Wisdom from a 7th Grader on Friendship

Good Morning All,

I hope your day has started off smoothly and everyone is healthy. After working approximately 28 hours the past two days trying to assist in getting H1N1 shots to the public I can tell you that there are many scared people out there and hope that this message finds you well.

This morning I want to revisit a topic that is near and dear to my own heart and that is the "friend" relationship. Yesterday as I was posting on my niece's page on facebook I noticed that under her information she posted "My friends are my life, I couldn't live without them." Such wisdom from a 7th grader. Of course I think she is much older than she appears in many ways. How do all of you view friendship? Do you have many friends or do you have many acquaintances and only a select group of what you would call friends? I want to offer a couple different interpretations of a verse out of proverbs for you to ponder as I discuss this further:

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV) A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 (The Message) Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.

Friendship is such a strange and wonderful thing. I've found that true friendships not only withstand the test of time they withstand the tests of life. I know I'm guilty of deeply hurting some of my "friends". And I call them "friends" because they, after realizing that I'm broken and not perfect, still accept me in their lives. Many of you reading this are a part of that group and I can't begin to express my gratitude to you for being such a blessing from God. After all of the roadblocks and bumps you are still with me and for that I'm truly blessed.

Now for more on my take on friendship. My friends ARE my family. I may be in close contact with them or I may only touch base with them every now and then, but the true mark of friendship is the closeness we share. I'm sure many of you have those in your lives that you haven't talked to in 6 months or a year and then call them and pick up right where you left off and roll with it. These friendships are just as meaningful as those that you touch base with every day. I think those I would call a friend would be willing to drop anything to be there for me. They don't put conditions on our relationship and they don't have expectations. Thanks to all of you for that!

If I would like you to take anything away from the message today it would be that you would take a quick look at who you call friends. If they are truly special to you, tell them and share your feelings. You never know when they need to hear that they are special to you.

This fall is already starting out to be fun-filled and friend-filled... I'm so richly blessed... I don't deserve it!

Love in Christ,
Steve