But friendship is precious...

Thomas Jefferson

When we are small, our friends are those who agree with us, who give us what we want, who want to do what we want to do when we want to do it. When we become bigger, our friends are those who are less concerned with what we want than what we need. That's why friendship, true friendship, is precious.

We all have had best friends, but not everyone has had a true friend. A best friend typically shares our interests to such a degree that it is mutually enjoyable to be around each other so that we can do the things together that we like to do. This is fun and has its obvious benefits, but it's not always the same as having a true friend.

A true friend is the guy who picks you for his team near the first when he sees that you need a lift because you are nearly always picked last. A true friend is the girl who invites you to sit with her and her friends at lunch because she sees you have been left by yourself and it hurts her to think you might be lonely. 

One of my fondest memories is of a young man who, for just a few minutes, was a true friend when I really needed one. I had just got my driver's license and one of the first things I did was to run into a parked truck on a K-Mart parking lot. As if that wasn't bad enough, when I went inside and the manager paged the person whose vehicle I had just plowed into, it turned out to be one of the toughest guys at school.

Now, try to put yourself in my position: I didn't just run into a car, I ran into a parked car! What a field day it was going to be for this tough guy to tell all of his tough friends exactly how pathetic I was for running into a parked car. The rest of the school year was going to be one long nightmare.

But... instead, when I told him what had happened, he just looked at me and said, "That's okay, I've done the same kind of thing myself". And, that was it! I wasn't the joke of the school, I didn't have to look over my shoulder every time I walked down a hall or into a classroom, and I didn't even have to avoid being anywhere near him for fear of what might happen.

I probably never spent an entire minute talking to the guy ever again, but I will always remember the time when I needed a true friend, that this guy was there for me. And, I can tell you that I have tried to treat others in the same way, because I know what it is like to need a real friend when you are in desperate need of one. And... such a friend is precious!

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24, NIV