My thoughts this week has been heavily weighted toward friends. There are so many rich examples of friendship in the Word. It makes me wonder what defines a friendship? Is it time? Is it distance? Is it circumstance? Is it meant to be? Is it magic or some mixture of all? Who is a friend?
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I have thousands of people designated as friends in facebook. Is that possible? I have a few specific people in facebook, I consider my friend even though I have never met them face to face. I think they became my friend when I relationally opened my heart and shared an intimate piece of who I am and what makes me who I am. I suppose I trusted that person with a piece of my heart.
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Maybe the sharing is what makes a friendship real, more than anything else. Some friends, I can readily agree with. We are of like mind. Others, there is little we agree on. Both can become my friend as we share life together.
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The thing I am baffled about in friendship is how little value we place on friendship. It must be a value thing although it could just be stupidity to not value friendship. I am always so surprised when I consider someone a friend and then circumstance changes and all communication ends. I wonder, did I just lose a friend or did I never have a friend. This bothers me as I had been living life as if the person was a friend. What a waste of time and energy…
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As I consider the issue of friendship, I’d like to know who is my true friend and who is not. I’d like to know who will be there when times are good and when times are bad. I wish there were an easy test I could email and qualify friendship. There isn’t; so the mystery of friendship continues….
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There are people I know beyond a shadow of doubt, they are my friends. Looking at them, I see an incredibly mismatched eclectic group of people. I love them dearly. My bride is my best friend, she has proven faithful through the test of time and circumstance. Much of my family are friends. Then, there are a couple of friends who nicknamed me, Sparky. Their friendship has stayed firm.
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I have others who I consider friends and I hope will be lifelong. Time will tell…..
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My best friend forever is Jesus.
God Spots 
I have been running this idea through my head for about 2 weeks. Moving to Florida taught me that MOST friendships come and go, AND lots of the time are dependent on the eeed in OTHER PEOPLES lives. With Michael gone in a fairly new place, I find myself sometimes friend-less. Not that I don’t have friends–but to me a friend is someone who I can be completely myself with, totally transparent, and will not be judged. They may not agree, may challenge me–will definitely laugh with me, but will always treat me as an equal.
also- Tyler Perry’s Madea has a great thought on this:
I can count on one hand the folks in my life I can be friends with in the way TJ describes-okay, maybe a couple more. They are true gems. The ones who are far… it is like time never passed when we meet again. Thankfully I have some family like that too.
I do have other friends who I can feel comfortable asking favors of but really don’t feel that transparency with… it’s certainly not easy to find it at church-which is one place I wish I could. Funny tho… I work for near min wage at a retail store and get hugs on a regular basis from folks….who know how to keep it real. 🙂
I know the frustration you speak of Archi… I am that way too … when folks pop in then out of your life, leaving me asking “what was that all about?”
Lisa. I relate to this, “…leaving me asking “what was that all about?”” I have shortened my response to, “huh?!” Funny….
TJ – These are the friends that are hard to find…” a friend is someone who I can be completely myself with, totally transparent, and will not be judged.” even for a season…
I have shortened my response to, “huh?!”
>>>with the Scooby Doo tilt of the head LOL