What Does It Mean To Be A Friend?

I have always struggled with the answer to this question: what does it mean to be a friend. Not because I don't know the answer but because I wonder why some friendships fail. Were they ever true friends, then? There have been a few that I've considered true friends - bosom friends as Anne of Green Gables so succinctly states. Now, they have either abandoned the friendship or proven themselves anything but a friend. Except one.

She has always been a true, and yes, a bosom friend. Although it's been a while since we've talked, or even seen each other, I'm convinced that our friendship will endure. Time and distance cannot erase what we mean to each other. We are friends and always will be.

Several weeks ago, I posed a question on the social networking site of which I am a member. Simply stated: "What is a friend?" I received many comments such as: unconditional love and support, someone who will never judge, someone who is there for you no matter what, etc. and I agree with these characteristics.

Here is my understanding of friendship: Friends weather whatever storms come our way and we return in kind. Friends don't choose what storms to weather, either. They are with us through it all and even if they don't always agree, they love us because love is the binding force that keeps a friendship together. Oh, and you can remove the word 'friendship' in the previous sentence and add your own word; i.e., marriage, family.

I'm going to close this post with the following portion of the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

To me, a friend loves.