FRIENDSHIP

As a child, I was very shy and quiet. This made kindergarten very difficult for me, because I didn’t know my classmates very well, and I didn’t really have friends. I remember being all alone at playtime, feeling very left out. Things were pretty much like this for six and a half years. I developed a deep belief that I didn’t belong anywhere among my peers, that I wasn’t likable, that I had to be entertaining to have friends. I’ve spent my life believing all this, but none of it is true. I asked the Lord about this, and the first thing that came to mind was these song lyrics: “I don’t want clever conversation; I never want to work that hard. I just want someone that I can talk to—I want you just the way you are” (“Just the Way You Are”, Billy Joel). Then He told me: “I made you one of a kind. I made you just the way I wanted you to be. You don’t have to fit someone else’s idea of what a good friend is like. Love builds up others (1 Corinthians 8:1). Let My love flow through you to others, and you will be great in My eyes, because love is the greatest attribute of all.” Dear Christians, these things are true of all of us. GOD lives in us, and He leads us in the way of love. That makes us very good at friendship.