TRUE FRIENDSHIP

A True Friend

Three quotes describing friendship.

1. Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pour them all right out just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness, blow the rest away. Cf. Jesus with Martha in John 11:24.

2. For the first time I carried on a conversation, and for the first time was the innermost sense of my words returned to me richer, fuller, and more comprehensive from another mouth. What I had been groping to communicate was returned clear to me. What I had been thinking I have been taught to see. Cf. Holy Spirit's groaning when we struggle to say things to God in Rom 8:26.

3. We were so mixed up as meeting streams, both as to ourselves lost. We were one mass. We could not give or take but for the same, for he was I, I was he. Cf. All things common in Acts 4:32.

        Our friendship and fellowship is with the Father. The fellowship of the friendship that says everything, knowing He will listen and blow the chaff away; the fellowship that says its best and hears repeated by the friend the innermost meaning of the best; the fellowship that merges into such identity of interest that we discover that God and we are in every deed in partnership with each other. He is committed to all the things that pertain to the fulfillment of my life, while I am committed to all things that pertain to the fulfillment of His purpose and His glory.

        And yet there is another test of friendship, a more severe test of friendship that goes beyond the ability to talk and be listened to, than speaking the innermost thought that the friend may repeat it better, than the merging of Lives.

4. The utmost test is the ability to say nothing, and be content when nothing is said. Silence is the final proof of friendship, and contentment in silence.

        A true friend is one we can take a holiday with, say nothing, and be content. When I meet a new acquaintance, I must always be saying something, which is not friendship. A true friend meets me with a real smile.

Abraham was the friend of God.