Friends

Thank God for friends. Good ones.
Here are some things I am celebrating today about friends:
•    They unselfishly celebrate your promotions, good grades, or a fabulous hair cut.
•    Friends will tell you when you have a little booger in your nose.
•    Good buddies honestly share that he isn't good for you, patiently endure you in your self-absorption, and cry with you when the relationship fails (without saying "I told you so").
•    They never tell you that you look fat, but they will split an entrée with you, avoid the ice cream section of the grocery store and coo over red peppers instead, and they’ll walk or jog with you.
•    They’re in the waiting room when you get your biopsy results.
•    They help you name your babies.
•    Friends cry with you because you cannot have babies.
•    They know your lipstick and nail polish shades like they know the chorus to Golden Girls.
•    When you’re in their space, you feel safe.
•    Other than your mama, no one prays more specifically for you.
•    They can hurt you with their intimate knowledge of your past and your shortcomings, but they never will. The thought never even enters their mind.
•    Friends are for you. Pro you. If you were a pro sports team, they would slather themselves in face-paint, don a jersey, and get that foam finger thingy and wave it in your face all day.
•    Girlfriends who stand up for you on your wedding day with tear-filled eyes.
•    A good friend can tell you a stinging truth, and then cover you with compassion.
•    Friends bring laughter!
•    Friends give us a second chance.
•    Friendship underlines the incarnation of God’s love, and His genius plan for us to live and love in community.
•    Friends challenge us to be better versions of ourselves, because they see us as sweeter, kinder, smarter, and stronger than we see ourselves.

I’m leaving tomorrow to see Julie. She is one of my true friends.