“Friends are the siblings God never gave us.” ~ Mencius
In the movie Toy Story, we hear the popular song, You’ve Got a Friend in Me. “You’ve got a friend in me. You’ve got a friend in me. When the road looks rough ahead and you’re miles and miles from your nice warm bed just remember what your old pal said, Boy, you’ve got a friend in me. Yeah, you’ve got a friend in me.”
Friendship is so very important. Children develop according to the friends that they have. If they have minimal encounters with others, their social development will be very poor. They may even appear to be stunted educationally and emotionally. Friendships reinforce one another, provide healthy competition to achieve, and spur each other on.
We all maintain friendships differently. Some people spend as much time as they can around one another. Some friendships are much more long distance. Some friends barely see each other and yet, when they have the chance to reconnect, it’s as if no time has passed at all.
Friends, indeed, are God’s gift to us. We need to remember that and be grateful for it. Gratitude to God and gratitude to our friends is so very important. Don’t be afraid to let your friends know how much you value them.
FAITH ACTION: Say a prayer for your friends today and reach out to at least one of them to let that person know what he or she means to you.