"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24
I don't think I've ever heard this verse quoted about anyone other than Jesus. While it is true that Jesus sticks closer than a brother, the fact that this was written in a passage that is not describing the Messiah, I wonder if Solomon was warning us about the friends we choose. He was a man of great wealth; I've known a lot of people with wealth that struggled to know who their true friends were and who were their friends only for personal gain.
While I'm not a person of great wealth, I have felt the sting of friendships gone bad -- leaving you bruised and wounded emotionally. True friends stand by you in the good and the bad. They are not afraid to tell you the truth and they love you for who you are, not for what you do.
When I was in high school, I became really close to a small group of gals. We did everything together. When we graduated, I assumed we would all lose touch, but amazingly the opposite happened. We have continued to stay in touch, and our friendships have deepened. We've celebrated births; we've rejoiced in victories, and we've laughed until we cried. We've also grieved the loss of infants, spouses, and friends. We've experienced a plethora of emotions with each other -- in other words, we've been REAL.
No matter what has happened in life, we have stuck together. I praise God for these Proverbs 18 friendships in my life. I just wanted to take a minute and say thank you to these special ladies in my life. They make me want to be a better person, and I thank God for them.
This was taken at our class reunion.
Labels: Inspirational
