One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Prov 18:24 (NKJV)
EACH OTHER
Cicero said, “Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” It's as if friendship is a necessary element for living, like water and air. We need to share our lives with each other – hopes, fears, griefs, dreams. Loneliness wastes the soul and strips us of our humanity – we were born to do life with others. We fit together like puzzle pieces, threads in a tapestry, needing the closeness of one another to tell the whole story…
But as sweet as friendship is, friendship gone wrong causes the deepest pain. Betrayal, rejection, misunderstanding. All worse when administered by the hands of a friend. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had to pick ourselves up off the floor after the blows from a once trusted kindred spirit.
“Friends come, and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family.” Proverbs 18:24 (MSG)
Jesse (my husband) is my best friend, but at times it can feel as though we are against each other, on different pages, missing one another. We can have the biggest disagreements and throw each other the lowest, most painful blows.
But our vulnerability with each other, our deep familiarity is what levels the playing field. I know Jesse, and he knows me. I know he’s not perfect, and I’m not either. We know that there is more that unites than divides us, and we can settle our disagreements and overlook our faults because the love that binds us together is stronger than our need to be right.
The world doesn’t need more “right” people. It needs more vulnerability and community. A global awareness that not one is perfect and in this we are all the same. Let love be stronger than hate, have faith in each other and hope the best for our neighbour. See each other as brothers and sisters – family. Maybe then the walls that divide us would start to crumble. People would cross fences, borders and preferences to reach out and extend kindness and compassion, to gather and hold, encourage and empower. Just as Jesus reached beyond our brokenness and into our lives.
A perfect friend is impossible to be and find, but a friend that sticks close like family? That forgives and asks for forgiveness? That hugs away fear, that talks over tea until misunderstandings are cleared, who walks through grief, who strengthens through sickness, who cleans messes they didn’t make, who loves when they don’t have to, and can receive it all back… we can all be that kind of friend. Jesus himself shows us how.
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