Embracing Friendship

             I have some amazing friends.  I am overwhelmed at the kindness I am shown, the unconditional acceptance that I am just who am I am and that’s okay or the sadness they feel when I am sad, yet the delight they express when I am joyful.  It is easy to embrace this kind of friendship.

As I continue to consider the idea of friendship, I also recognize through scripture, that we are friends of God.  It made me ask the question: what qualities do we, as humans, require to consider a person our friend?  While I appreciate that I have many friends, I realize there are different levels of friendship.  There are those people who are really little more than an acquaintance.   I know these persons but have only talked with them a time or two.  Then there are friends because we are in the same social circles and have similar interests.  We usually have no problem chatting on a variety of subjects.  Still friendship can be much deeper than this.  This relationship is with those whom personal information is exchanged that not everyone else may know about. 

Still there is another level of friendship where dreams, private thoughts, perhaps problems, and other personal information is shared.  Sometimes this relationship is between husband and wife.  Sometimes however, it can be shared between other friends.  I've found that as a woman  there are times when you just need to share with another female because sometimes the masculine gender just doesn't understand!

 That being said, I know I can tell God anything that is on my heart and know that he understands.  What's more, unlike any of my other friends, even though they can offer valuable advice, they can't fix my problem and may not totally understand my issue even though they are completely supportive. God has the unique ability to solve my problem if I am open to his voice.

            So what makes a friend?  Someone who accepts you just as you are; trusts you to do the same thing for them; hold a confidence without being judgmental; offers prayers when needed; shares your pain and your joy, and willing to cry with you or laugh depending on the situation.  Sometimes it means just sitting and listening.  On occasion it's taking a responsibility to ease a burden.  There are probably as many things that define a friend as there are friends.

So to be considered a friend of God is a bit overwhelming when you consider that God is God!  I take great pleasure in sharing my thoughts with a God who knows me better than I know myself.  He completely understands me.  Isn’t that what we all want?  Don’t we all want to be heard and understood?  God can do this and is there to meet my needs, albeit in his own time.  There’s just something exquisitely comforting knowing that like Abraham, I can be friends with God!  What a wonder!

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend.  James 2:23