Some people have loads of them!
Some have only a few.
But I believe everyone needs at least one good friend. A friend who will stand beside you in good times and bad.
Remember when we were all little? It seemed so easy.
We went to school and made friends. We went to church and made friends. I had a couple of close friends through school into high school.
I guess I had lots of acquaintances — those people who I knew and talked with, but I wasn’t as close to and didn’t do as many things with them.
Then in college it seemed, for me, that I again had a few people close to me and mostly those I just knew slightly.
In all the schools I’ve taught in and jobs I’ve had, I have made work friends; those I got along with at school, talked to, laughed with, commiserated with and ate lunch with.
As a pastor’s wife, I have moved around with Gary when he felt called by God to different pastorates and ministry. I have so many church friends we made as we raised our family while serving in different kinds of churches in different places. They have enriched my life.
Because I didn’t grow up and stay in one place, I don’t have many lifelong friends. I believe that is a true blessing for those of you who do. Somehow, I have a hard time imagining living in one place all my life, and knowing the same people through all the phases of growing up, raising families and maturing. I’ll never forget a member of the first church we served saying, “I hope you stay here and we all grow old together.”
I hold a great many people in my heart and memories.
The Bible tells us about friendship and how we are helped by having Christian, right-living friends.
We all need these types of friends described in scripture: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (I Thessalonians 5:11).
I have a friend I can call and talk to when I’m discouraged, depressed or feeling oppressed. She does cheer me up, encourage me and often prays with me. I hope you have friends like this.
There are times we just need a friend who shows us Christian love who is with us and has skin on: “If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (Ecclesiastes 4:10). How true. There are times we just need a hand. It may be physically when we are ill or hurt, or spiritually when we are unsure or tested, or mentally when we are plagued by depression or negative thoughts.
A mature Christian friend is a treasure, a help, an encourager and a person who helps you grow in your spiritual journey.
Can you be such a friend to someone in need?
