A Friend

I have no clue who or if anyone reads these posts, but I will continue to write regardless. I've been thinking a lot lately about friends. So often I think about who is my friend, or what I like to find in a friend, but much less often do I consider what kind of friend I can be. I like having friends who are honest with me, but am I honest to them? I like friends who listen patiently to me, but do I listen to them? I like friends who trust my judgment, but do I trust my friends? I like friends who will stand by me in both the good times and the hard times, but do I remain true to them in those times they need me most? It's hard to put myself in the mind of Christ (in fact, impossible in my sinful nature), but as I grow in Him, I try to think of what He must have been thinking around people. Being completely unselfish, he must have always put their interests first. I guarantee you He wasn't asking Himself what He wanted in friends. In fact, He hung out mostly with people who were nothing like Him (i.e. sinners!). The reason He could do this was that He was being a friend, not seeking friends. If Christ wanted to build an earthly empire of material and social power, He would have made friends with the Roman and Jewish leaders of the day. They were the big dogs who could really benefit Him, not the prostitutes and beggars. Christ was a rebel in the way He acted. He was building a kingdom of spiritual matter that started with sacrifice of comfort for the sake of others. I want to learn to be a friend, not to have friends. It's easy to have friends by sucking up to people or hanging out with like-minded people, but it's incredibly hard to be a friend. I want to learn to be a friend, and one place to start is by offering my friendship to anyone who needs it. I want to care about the needs of others. Living from my viewpoint, the world revolves around me and my life. Proof of this is that I don't miss one second of my life. I can live in every opportunity I come upon. However, I seldom take the time to try and put myself in the shoes of someone else, another human being who has the same struggles, thoughts, worries, joys, and victories. As soon as I can do that, I can start to sympathize and offer myself to them as someone who will stand by them, stand up for them, and support them through all they go through. It's a challenging thought, but I'd like to be a better friend than I've been. I want to learn to love.