An Underrated Relationship

by: Chic Broersma

Friendship, compared to dating, marriage, and family life, gets the short end of the stick. It’s underrated. Maybe that’s good. Marriage and family life, with their daily challenges, sometimes feel like “running the rapids” while friendship may seem like a river cruise on a sunny spring day.

Oh sure, friendships, if we’re honest with one another, can be challenging too. Yet a good and trusted friend is a choice gift of God. Friends have a way of bringing out the best in us. Friends are there when we need them. Adults don’t go around, like children in a nursery school, asking, “Will you be my friend?” Instead, one day one simply discovers a friend. Abraham Lincoln said, “The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”

Charles Kingsley wrote, “We must hope all things, believe all things, endure all things rather than lose that most precious of all earthly possessions—a trusted friend.” So true, and the best friend of all is the one who laid down his life for his friends. We call him Jesus. We didn’t choose him. He chose us and calls us his friends.