What Makes a Good Friend?
My friendships are an important part of my life. I don’t know what I would do without my friends. True friendship is precious and often elusive. My mother warned me when I was growing up with these words. “Everybody who smiles and laughs in your face is not your friend.” I have found this adage to be true.
Finding Friends in Unlikely Places
I am often surprised on who will be my friend. Sometimes the people you think will be there for you aren’t. Or you find support in unexpected places. Nikki the main character in my novel, What Goes Around Comes Around, is friends with Lisa a precocious teenager. On the surface you wouldn’t think these two people would be friends.
Lisa has a difficult relationship with her mother and has had to fend for herself. Nikki lost a lot of friends after she married Ricardo. When things end in her relationship Nikki gets support and encouragement from Lisa.
Qualities to look for in a friend
There is an age difference but as R&B artist Aaliyah sang in her hit single Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. Loyalty, respect, trust, love and wanting the best for each other are part Lisa and Nikki’s friendship and those qualities are the glue that their holds the friendship together.
Proverbs reveal qualities of a good friend
There are several Proverbs that give insight into what makes a good friend. In Proverbs 17:17 it says that a good friends loves at all times. Proverbs 17:18 says that there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Love and loyalty are two important qualities of a good friendships. Lisa and Nikki despite outward differences have a strong, supportive friendship.
A good friend knows your fault without bringing them up. A good friend knows your secrets without gossiping about them to other. A good friend is there for you in good times and bad. We often can’t choose our friends as a good friend is a gift from God.
I love and cherish my good friends and invest time into maintaining these important relationships.