Friendship

This morning I have been thinking about the importance of friendship and all of the wonderful friends that God has placed in my life.  I have been blessed in that many of my family members have also become friends through the years.  But there are those people that I do not possess a biological connection with yet the connection of friendship has been a powerful influence in my life.  Those type of friends become a part of your family although they may not be part of your physical or natural family.  I am grateful for these friends and I am thankful for the investment of friendship that each of these individuals have made in my personal life.  I have truly been enriched and encouraged through the development of these friendships.  I have friends that are of various ages who live in various locations yet there is an unique connection and relationship with each one of them.  I enjoy the type of friends with which you can just continue the conversation that begun a few minutes ago, a few days ago, a few weeks ago, or even a few months ago.  Those type of friends allow you to just pick up where you left off in your previous conversations.  You may not even see these friends ofter but you know that they "have your back" and that they care about you and your family. 

Thank God for friends!!!!

These thoughts reminded me of some words of Adrian Rogers that I recently read.  Take a moment and read these thoughts and allow them to encourage you to develop friendships with those special people that God places in your life.

There are five qualities of friendship.

 1. Harmony. We are to be of one mind, not necessarily singing the same note, but complimenting one another.

 2. Sympathy. We hurt when friends hurt. The world is looking for friends like this.

 3. Fraternity. We are to love one another like brothers. There is no brotherhood like the brotherhood in Jesus Christ.

 4. Pity. If you want to be a real friend, you’re going to have to feel deeply. You’ll need to put yourself in the place of the other person.

 5. Humility. Genuine courtesy is thinking of the other person’s needs before your own. You are less concerned with your rights, and more concerned about the relationship.