"Friend"

I have run several times since Hawaii. Replacing sand for snow, 72º mornings with 27º and bright colors for black and white and (still) gray is a bit of a culture shock. But we love Minnesota, don’t ya know.

Terms and labels seem to be an interesting challenge.
The word “Friend” being one of them.

Friend Quotes
• "Friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable."
• “A friend is one who strengthens you with prayers, blesses you with love and encourages you with hope.”
• "A friend is one who walks in when others walk out" -Walter Winchell
• “The best mirror is an old friend.” - George Herbert
• “We don’t expect kids to be friends until they have played together. Why do we expect adults to be friends without playing first?”

Observations
• “Friend” can be a safe term when you don’t know what else to call someone.
• “Friend” may mean, that is all you are.
• “Let’s just be friends” can mean, “back off!”
• A friend is that person who flies across the country and shows up at your door just when you need one.
• A friend is that person you can talk to about anything, just like you did the last time you met 30 years ago.
• A friend is someone who invites you over when you just need a place to be.
• Use “friend” when approaching a stranger you don’t want to antagonize

For Me
Personally I often call people friend. This includes my own boys, kids I have worked with along the way, and those that have entered into my own life journey. It may take on various meanings for various people, but for me the word friend seems to echo something Jesus said. As Jesus sits with his disciples he says, I no longer call you servants, but friends.” In so doing there becomes equality, an intimacy, a genuine humannus that is neither above nor below. For me friend is about being. There may be no greater relationship then that of being. It comes without expectations or labels, a lesson hard to learn. God is not about hierarchies; only humans try to make one person better than another. It amazes me that God can look across and say I call you friend. What an amazing, almost impossible, thing for a human. May we learn the art of being friends.

John 15:15
I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.