Webster’s defines the word “friend” as ‘one attached to another by feelings and affection, a person who gives assistance, a supporter, a favored companion’. I cannot begin to tell you how my thought process for friendship has changed over the years since being rooted and grounded at Church of the Highlands. Years past, I had heard of people that had friends, true friends, real friends, the kind that God intended you to have, but that didn’t describe me, and my social life. The friends I had were seasonal, they would come and go, with the changes of situations. Like a leaf from a tree, in the Spring, the friendship would bloom, our mutual feelings of love, and adoration would blossom, we might hit some hard times when life got a little hot and sticky, but hey that’s what friends are for right? But then, all of the sudden a strong wind would blow, and like the leaf, the friendship would start to discolor, because there didn’t seem to be much nurturing going on, maybe a little bitterness entered the relationship, maybe it didn’t quite get watered like it should have, and then, poof, it was gone. That so called friend, the one you thought would be there through thick and thin, is now blowing in the wind. Gone. And just like like, you’re alone again.
I am SO grateful, I’m going to say it again, I am SO grateful for the REAL friends I have now. We even call ourselves a tribe, to some that might seem silly, but for us, it’s our livelihood. Our friendship goes beyond a dinner out on a Friday night, it goes beyond sharing a recipe, it is in it’s entirety, a necessity to life itself. Having a good friend, is as essential to life as breathing for me. I can’t do life alone, I refuse to. I tried it the other way, it doesn’t work.
C. S. Lewis once penned this statement, “Friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, 'Sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’.”
A true friend is worth far more than rubies, its value is indispensable. A true friend, like God, will advocate for us. They will go out of their way to defend us, they will promote us, and propel us further that we ever could go alone. They will guide, encourage, commend, and counsel. A true friend will not give up, even when they have every reason to.
That sounds so much like our Father, isn’t He the same, He’s our guide, He encourages us through the Word, He commends us, and the Word says the Holy Spirit is our Counselor, Jesus is our advocator, defending us to the Father right now. And like a true friend, He hasn’t given up on me, even though I’ve given Him every possible reason to. He’s a true friend indeed.
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