The Blessing of True Friends

The older I get (and after being away at college), I have discovered that true, real friends are like rare gems. How amazing it is to sit down and un-burden your soul with a kindred spirit, someone who is also in this journey of life with you. How even more amazing and encouraging it is when this friendship exists between two brothers or sisters in Christ. I love my closest girlfriends, and I consider them to almost be family. We share heart-to-heart conversations about our walk with Christ, frustration with relationships, and individual passions. To build each other up in prayer, encouraging one another is the heart of a friendship. Friendship is scattered all throughout the Bible: Ruth and Naomi, Jonathan and David... The writer of Hebrews states "encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today..." (Hebrews 3:13). And Proverbs 27:17 declares "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." If you look throughout the Bible, God does not approve of solitude. In the words of John Donne, no man is an island. Solomon gets this idea in Ecclesiastes: "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" (Eccl. 4:10) I was really struck this weekend over how grateful I am for Christian friends. What a blessing! But remember, sometimes we have to be that blessing too.