Friends Matter

All my life I've been privileged to have wonderful friends. 

Some have been on this life's journey with me from elementary to high school. Some, I've picked up along the way through various relationships; church, family, marriages, ex partnerships, places of employment, and other affiliations. But one thing is for sure...friends matter.

Yeah, I know for someone who isn't too into friendships, this may seem trivial. Yet, friends are so important that the Lord will give opportunity for this to be written in the holy scriptures.

Proverbs 18:24
"A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

Proverbs 27:17
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."

In each of these, you see the perfect will of God for us to be friends and embrace others as friends. So when you tell me, "I can count the number of friends I have on one hand," my reply is,  "I know you only have that much capacity in your heart to be a friend."

In other words, your lack of having friends is somewhere wrapped in the cause of you not being friendly. It baffles me how people expect others to befriend them, when they make no effort in befriending others. Life is about giving to get; and if you aren't giving anything, you can't expect to get anything. 

The older I get, I'm starting to realize having friends is a blessing that matters. Sure, people have learned how to fake everything; including being a good friend. But even in that, sometimes it's your friendship that will cause them to be real.

Remember this: you can never partner with someone on the merits of perfection. Why? Broken people can't expect perfect friends, and we all are broken, nicked, or cracked in some form or another. Hence why you hear, "broken people hurt people." We attract more of the same types of people than we do opposites. It's just easier to attached to what I am, and deal with like-minded people in spite of the fact that it can lead to harm.

In friendship, we don't always have to be the same type, or have experienced the same things, but  we must have agreement...even with God. Amos 3:3 implies that unless we have agreement, it's impossible to even walk together. And verse 6 shows us that even God requires us to come into agreement with Him or else He will do nothing.

How can I come into agreement with God? That's simple. I come into alignment with His word, ways, precepts, attributes, and likeness. That's what friendship is...it's coming into alignment with one another based upon our moral values, attributes, and likeness. It's having someone in the box with you who is trying to help you get out the box, and waiting on you at the top, to help pull you out the box. Baby, friends matter.

The next time you meet someone new, remember God may have placed them in your life for a reason and a season...but either way, friends matter.

Be Blessed,
​Danyelle