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He calls me His friend.

Don’t you like it when someone refers to you as friend?

There was a time in my life when I really craved that word friend, and didn’t realize how many I truly had. What that means is that I thought I needed tons of friends around me, when all I really needed was a few good ones and one infallible One!

The craving for that word “friend” started in middle school, when I noticed how easily the whole popularity thing came to my sister—cheerleader, cute, straight brown hair. I somehow never could master the art of landing in a split from a cheerleader cartwheel, and my super curly hair was simply ahead of its time style-wise. The eighties big hair was only just starting to catch on, but not quick enough at my school!

I found myself hanging with just a few good friends rather than being in the center of a huge crowd. How well I know now that one or two good friends is worth a hundred times more than a crowd of strangers.

Until recent years I collected perhaps too many friends—as though each were like golden nuggets. I always looked for the precious value in each. Never mind that some of those nuggets turned out to be fool’s gold! And even the genuine ones sometimes disappointed with lackluster shine.

But the craving for the word—friend, always remains. Sometimes enough for me to ignore behavior I shouldn’t put up with.

When I finally learned to filter my friendships, I kept the fool’s gold at bay while embracing the proven ones. To these I would sometimes admit my craving for friendships and my secret penchant for constantly wanting more friends–only to find that they too crave that word—friend.

It’s our nature—to want to be loved and to have companionship.

So why is it when we hear the Creator of the Universe call us “friend”, some of us don’t stand in awe, feeling like we’ve hit the jackpot?

Maybe you don’t realize God really does call you friend, sister! When He came to this earth in human form, He took on all the hurts and emotions we do. So He gets it.

Just listen to John 15:13 where the Creator Himself tells you He is your Friend:

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

The one who laid down His life for us, His friends, is Christ Himself.

Think about it. Don’t go down the road of thinking He loves you just because you’re part of the human race He created. HE LOVES YOU! Everything about you! Your faults, your strengths, your insecurities, your restlessness, your posture, even the way you leave your bed undone on most days (okay, maybe you don’t, but I do!).

I stopped trying to count friends a long time ago, and I hope you have too. The more you just accept the most important Friend as solid, the more the others come out of the woodwork!

Father God, thank You for calling us Your friend and laying down Your Son for our lives. Open our eyes to see Your hand in each part of our day as we extend friendship to those around us. Give us the friends here on earth that we desperately crave – the ones who can walk along side us and encourage us. We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen