Friendship

What is friendship? This is something I have been pondering over the last week. Here are some thoughts I found online regarding what makes a friend and defines friendship.

• "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." -Walter Winchell


• "A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein


• "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud."- Ralph Waldo Emerson


• "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." - Alice Walker


• "Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance." - Rabindranath Tagore


• A man of many companions may come to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. - Proverbs 18:24

\Pronunciation: \ˈfrend\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English frend, from Old English frēond; akin to Old High German friunt friend, Old English frēon to love, frēo free
Date: before 12th century
1 a : one attached to another by affection or esteem b : acquaintance2 a : one that is not hostile b : one that is of the same nation, party, or group3 : one that favors or promotes something (as a charity)4 : a favored companion5 capitalized : a member of a Christian sect that stresses Inner Light, rejects sacraments and an ordained ministry, and opposes war —called also Quaker
— friend·less \ˈfren(d)-ləs\ adjective
— friend·less·ness noun
— be friends with : to have a friendship or friendly relationship with

All this is to say I have lost all perspective on friendship. And that is most likely because I have lost sight of the one friendship that really matters. Jesus, lover of my soul, how can I even think I know better than You? How can I try to walk this journey alone? I turn my back for reasons I can't even put words to. What matters more than You? People will fail me, I will fail me. Only You are always true and always faithful. I yearn to have intimacy again but I know that, like any relationship, this will take time, not because of You but because of me. It will not happen over night. I need to seek You out, I need to be faithful because You are not the one who walked away. I chose to put this distance between us. You love me no matter what I do or say. You love me always. You alone are always there and You always take me back.

I no longer need to be lonely. I no longer need to worry about the rejection of men and so called friends. Because I have my best friend, the one who will never leave. The one who always cares more for me than Himself. The One who died for me. My Jesus, my Savior, my Friend.