Best Friends Are Treasures

We all have friends. Most friends are, people who know us and spend time with us, sharing life for a season.

Best friends, one the other hand, are the people who are not just with us for a season but instead share life with us, in some way, season after season. If we are fortunate best friends' relationships are the ones that last til death do us part.

Being a best friend isn’t about holding a title in name only instead it is about an unconditional and never-ending bond that can literally last a lifetime.

Best friends require a level of commitment.

Best friends are the friends who willingly help carry our burdens when life is difficult.

Best friends also challenge us to grow individually into the best person that we can be.

A best friend isn’t afraid to speak truth. A friend of this level doesn’t just speak words we may want to hear instead they speak words we sometimes need to hear.

A best friend is willing to make personal sacrifices at times for the good of someone else whom they have chosen to invest in long-term. Relationships have a cost. (Time, effort, and sometimes even money)

A best friend never lets a relationship end out of inconvenience. Time, distance, circumstances do not hinder this level of friendship. A disagreement or difference of opinion doesn’t also threaten the relationship of a best friend.

A best friend loves unconditionally. Their love is patient, and kind. A best friends love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Their love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. A best friends love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. Their love protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

A best friend is someone who knows all about you and encourages you to be your best, not just when it’s easy or convenient but over a lifetime.

The younger we make best friends the more opportunities we have to feel loved and supported long- term better. Why? The prejudices, messiness, and relationship expectations we develop throughout life are less readily a part of those friendships. As young people we often develop friends just because and good truly is good enough.

I recently lost a best friend who would have been 53 years old today, we had been friends since the age of 13. Thankful for the decades of challenging and loving one another as friends.

Friendships are not always easy. Relationships can be messy, especially when they involve love. As the value of friendship is truly a priceless treasure.

To learn more, visit the website http://www.RealLifeRelationships.org on the site you can also find more information about the book Love Forever and the self-guided course books Loving Others, Loving Yourself, and Reconciling Through Love.

Reconciling Through love is a self-guided course book that is available and may help provide a assistance to the process of healing over time.

In memory-Mark Williams 1969-2022