23 January | Youth
«A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.» Proverbs 17:17
I do not need to define friendship. Everyone knows what it is. A good friend is priceless! It comes in different shapes, sizes, ages and even alleviates the absence of family. It is a shame that not everyone has a good friend.
There are those who say they have “millions” of friends. It is a lie. In life, you cannot have more than two or three true friends. In fact, we have a circle of friendship, which can be seen from the outside in. In the outer area of the circle, there are contacts, which revolve around 500 people. People from school, church, or the workplace. These are people with whom you have casual relationships; we say hello, but we do not even know their names properly. After that, in the middle, comes the group of colleagues, around 50 to 100 people. You are able to mention these people's first names, but not much else. In the center of the circle, there are half a dozen close friends, if there are that many. They are part of our life. We participate in the same activities, we have fun, we like the same music, and we are completely comfortable when we are together. In some ways, our lives are interconnected.
The difference between close friends, colleagues and contacts is that the latter can come and go from our lives with ease. However, close friends are engraved in our hearts.
In Proverbs 17:17, the wise man says that a true friend reveals himself in difficult times. Crises do not form new friends; they only highlight the quality of those with whom we relate. In general, it is in the midst of difficulties that our bonds of friendship grow stronger. True friendship is consolidated in tough times. Solomon says that the greatest evidence of a genuine friendship is that the friend is capable of loving “at all times.” A friend is someone who helped you with your homework, who listened to you when you were dumped, who helped you stand up to the school bully. Ultimately, friendship grows stronger in adversity.
I heard my friend Cláudio Meireles once talk about “refrigerator friends.” I liked it so much that I wrote it down right away. A refrigerator friend is someone who comes into your house, opens your fridge, eats your food, and still complains about the brand. How many friends like that do you have? There are few, right? But, when it comes down to it, these friends are the ones who will be by your side.