My Friend

We all know the Proverbs 18:24 verse, most of us have quoted it, "A man that hath friends shall show himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."  It needs no explaining, it's pretty much self explanatory.  It's very simple, very direct, yet it speaks volumes. 

I love the second part of that verse because in my lifetime I have found a handful of these friends.  When you are so low that you have to look up to see the bottom and you have a person that will still be by your side, you have found a friend.

During the failing health of my mother, in which time I was still grieving the loss of my dearest sister, I had a friend.  She would let me cry to her, she would let me be angry about circumstances, she would stay by my side.  When speaking the name of my sister made other people uncomfortable, or would leave them wondering why I still talked about her after she was gone, my friend would smile at my stories and encourage me to talk more.  She not only offered to help during those long days and nights and many trips out of state, she listened, she went with me, she stayed by my side.
 
When my husband's office caught fire and had to be renovated and remodeled, there she was.  She didn't just say, "I'm sorry for your problems", she acted.  When I was painting, ripping out walls, unhinging cabinets, sanding, cleaning....there she was.  Her face was as dirty as mine and her hands as bruised.  There were days when I had to go check on my mother, but the work continued because she didn't quit, even when I wasn't there.  Oh, she said she needed to do it to get her mind off her own problems at the time, she said it helped her, but, no, I was the one who was lucky to have her in my life at that time.

There are many well intentioned people who say, "if there's anything I can do, just call" , but a friend that sticketh closer than a brother says, "I'm coming over and this is what we're going to do."
 
My friend and I have worked ourselves silly at one project or another, we've sat down to have lunch with dirty faces and stained hands, but laughed like two goons over nothing in particular.  My friend and I have gone on trips that we ended up climbing through windows, we've shopped til we actually did drop (because my friend has to touch everything in the store), we've had spontaneous outings, sweated like hogs working together, planned and decorated anything we could, fussed at inconsiderate people then feel ashamed (sometimes), had moments of panic at each other's driving, and cried together at each other's heartaches.
 

It's nothing for one of us to call the other in the morning and say, "hey, I'm going....do you want to go with me" and we jump in the car for a spontaneous trip to who knows where.  She's babysat my kids, hugged my grandkids and been part of our family gatherings.

She's not my sister by blood, but she is my heart sister.  What a grand thing to have a friend.

Proverbs 17:17a  A friend loveth at all times.....