Good Friends

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all 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 then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

- George Eliot


Being a child made it difficult to understand what a friend really is as an adult. We like to go bike riding or rollerblading together; ah what a satisfactory friend indeed! After gaining a sense of purpose and direction in life, I look back and cringe at the mistakes that I’ve made which inevitably goes hand in hand with the people I’ve hurt. Now I look around and realize a good friend is hard to find, because they are constantly right in front of your face yet we choose not to look there.

Who are your friends? Are they the people that you find most often agree with what you have to say? Can you talk for hours about how a certain political idea is so astute that anyone who dares to think otherwise is simply the most uncultivated brute of a person that has walked the earth? Yes I do have good friends as previously described, yet surprisingly there are many who are just opposite of that. I wonder if this has spoiled me or created unrealistic expectations for when I encounter new people? It is still foreign to me that Christian brothers and sisters accept the principle of we should only befriend those who agree with us. I have only heard few admit this out loud but have seen many portray this in their actions. How do you influence someone? How do you love them? “And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that.” (Luke 6:33) Maybe this verse doesn’t exactly fit in this context but it rings true to me.

Thank you God for all of my friends! Even the ones who see it differently…
Carpe Noctem…