A True Friend

TODAY: The Beatles had it right: "Love is all you need." The writer W.H. Auden was more direct: "Love each other or die." Plan in the week ahead to change your routine to reflect the reality that how we love is how we live.

"Some friends play at friendship, but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin." Reading these words of scripture provided me with the opportunity to reflect on the issues of friendship in my life, the observations that come with growth and maturity, and the benefits that come from having a loving family and being a member of the church and a Christian fellowship.

I have found the following in my life, as I have observed and developed friendships:

* The joy of having a wife who is also your best friend; who is there for you, unconditionally; who challenges yet loves; and who grows and models Christ
* The tears of joy in one's heart when watching two friends take their son to the communion rail
* Men getting to know each other over eggs and grits at an early morning prayer breakfast, and the draw to return each week to learn more to assure that growth continues
* The heartache one feels for a friend who struggles to encourage a son to grow and mature, while balancing his own expectations with those of the son
* Brothers by marriage discussing grace and becoming friends
* Parents-in-law and son-in-law developing a relationship/friendship over the years, growing from a connection by marriage to a bond formed by mutual respect and love
* The hurt in the eyes of friends during a clash of opinions - one trying to do the right thing and the other trying to assure relevance
* Disciple class members meeting and growing with each other, forming friendships that will be remembered whenever one of the members picks up a Bible
* A true friend who reaches out to another during a time of betrayal due to the blackness of depression, when all others flee out of ignorance or misguided solutions

So what have I learned, and what do I continue to learn from these observations of friendship? The issue is love and the work we must do to assure that we emulate Christ. God could have automatically made us friends - to like each other, to respect each other and to be there for each other. However, there is no automatic for God - except His love. As Paul said in his letter to Philemon, "Although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love." In other words, for me, friendship is part of the ever-continuing quest to be Christ-like. We must want to love; and once we love, we experience the joy that God intended.

— Ed Federico

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist