Being A Friend

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

—2 Thessalonians 2:16–17

My husband and I were talking in the car the other day on our way to a birthday party for me, and he said something about a friend of ours: “She’s really good at being a friend.”

And in the silence, we were thinking of a couple people we love very much who, frankly, are not so good at being friends. We share history and care about one another and are always happy to see each other, but when it comes down to it, they don’t do what good friends do very often. That led us into a conversation about all the ways we don’t always do what good friends do either.

Because it doesn’t matter how you feel in your heart about your friends—what matters is showing those feelings through words and actions.

After dinner, each person toasted my birthday. The not-so-good friend blew my mind, saying something so lovely and sweet and meaningful, something I had no idea she felt about me.

How often is that happening in our lives? The things we feel about one another often go unexpressed because we assume it’s clear. But is it?