I Believe in Friends

I believe in friends ...

I believe in God, the Father Almighty … and in Jesus Christ, His only Son ... the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church etc. etc. I’ve said it many times and what a noble statement of faith.

There’s only one thing, however: I wouldn’t mind just adding as an appendage at the end (or maybe it fits in alongside ‘communion of saints’): ‘I believe in friends.’ What I mean is, yes, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all most essential, vital parts of my life - and so also are my friends. If God has rescued me BIG TIME in a redemptive sense and in a million practical ways, my friends have also rescued me again and again from all the things that tangle me up and send me off course. There are times when I have just placed myself in their hands and trusted them to the uttermost with the most painful parts of my life. The strange thing, though, is that in the middle of all this is – God. I come away and my spirit is refreshed and renewed and lightness enters my soul once more. I feel full of fresh energy to serve Him, I who was so full of weariness. God Himself has nurtured, rescued me – through my friends.

I believe in friends. There’s nothing on earth like them. Give me a million pounds and that would be nothing compared to having a group of true friends.

Those who lack friends are, I believe, living in poverty, poverty of soul, of spirit.

That brings me on to this: enjoying friends must lead onto seeking to be a friend. To be a friend, a true friend, is a high calling indeed. O to be a good friend - as others have been good friends to me.

O I do, I do, I do: I believe in friends.