LIFE IS RELATIONSHIPS!

Submitted by Lara Cook
A friend loves at all times Proverbs 17:17a

How many times have you heard our pastor say these very words?  If you can’t handle relationships, then you can’t handle life.  The best relationships are tested, strengthened and trusted friends and family.  The most precious of resources for life support and joy are our friends.  Friendships are crucial--your friendships (many or few) have probably determined who you are today, more than almost any other factor.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”  C.S. Lewis

Never has there been anything more true than this statement.  Friendship does indeed give value to life! 

I have a couple of friends…
I am fortunate that my co-workers are among my very best friends.  Not everyone is that lucky!  Good friends are God’s gift to us.  The Bible talks about friends in many places but one of my favorite passages is: Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-10    

A Friend in Need
We are never as alone as when we face difficulties in our lives without the support or understanding of caring and compassionate friends. See, my friends and I have a great time together but I also know that I can call them in the middle of the night in the case of an emergency.  I could probably call them in the middle of the night if I woke up and had a bad dream – that’s just the way they are – always there for me.  They would do most anything for me as I would for them.  Do you have friends like this in your life?  If so, have you told them lately how much they mean to you?  If not, maybe you need to take a closer look at the people you are calling friends. 

Blessing
I can’t imagine my life without my friends.  God has blessed me beyond what I deserve.  We discover the best of friendships with brothers and sisters who know and accept our weaknesses and imperfections. These are the people we can be real with, cry with, laugh with and just get insanely silly with.  God knew we would need a support system in our lives.  Our own family members are sometimes less able to comfort us than the special gift of those special friends who know and love us.  They can often do more than kin in these ways:

• They have a closer likeness in spirit to better understand. 
• They may be closer in age, ideas and thoughts.
• They are often closer in physical proximity to be involved in your circumstances. They are nearby and sensitive.
• They often know more about you in your present situation, your real needs, struggles and goals.  You don't have to ask them to care.

Thank God today for the special blessings He has given you in your friends and take care of those relationships.  You never know when you are going to need to call on that support system.

Scripture to Claim: 
Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man's counsel is sweet to his friend.
Proverbs 27:9