What kind of friend are you? Everyone hopes to be a good friend. But what kind of friend are you really?
Are you loyal? Are you trustworthy? Are you honest? Are you kind? Are you reliable? Do you defend your friends when people try to besmirch their name or is your voice the loudest in the room listing off all their worst attributes?
What everyone wants, hopes, and prays for is a friend that they can call family. They want someone who has their trust, who they can confide in and rely on. But when our desires take the fore in this way, we sometimes forget to consider what our friends want out of their relationship with us. We think so much about how we want to be treated and forget that it should be reciprocal. That is what loving your neigbhour as yourself is all about. Knowing that your needs and desires are not unique to you alone and treating people the way you would like them to treat you.
In this fractured world, this can be hard to do. We are filled with doubts about people’s motives and fears about how they could let you down. Remember that even though it is supposed to go both ways you cannot control other people’s actions. You can only control how you act in every situation. And someone who is following God’s path and doing God’s will as part of the body of Christ, we are called to love unconditionally. So be the friend you always wanted to have.