Pr. 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Have you ever been wounded by a friend or kissed by an enemy? Did you know the difference?
Yesterday I was talking with one of my dearest friends. We have both been affected by suicide lately and the subject of my attempted suicide in high school came up. After a failed 1st attempt, I wrote a letter with my intentions to my friends before my 2nd attempt, and she took it upon herself to take that letter to the school guidance counselor who called my parents. I was promptly enrolled in counselling. Yesterday she admitted to me that she was so scared, back then, that I was going to be mad at her.
I told her that I was mad at her for a while. Wounds from a friend hurt. But aren’t they ever faithful? Because of her loyal and caring action, I got the help that I needed and am here writing this blog today. She could have allowed her fear of losing our friendship to cause her to not take action, but would that have been the best thing for me? Absolutely not! I would have died! She had to choose between my life or our friendship. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for her, but at the same time, how easy it was…a no brainer, really.
Now, that one is pretty shut and dry as far as what to do, right? But…Has your friend started drinking more and more recently and been justifying to you? What about when your friend is flirting with men who aren’t her husband? How about when your buddy’s jokes are only dirty ones anymore? Have your friends started letting the youth hang out at their house and do things that are inappropriate? Lines can get a little grayed at some point and subjects can get a little touchier.
It’s not always up to us to speak. Sometimes, the Lord just calls us to pray. If, after you have prayed; however, you still feel you need to speak then keep this in mind: There is a popular mantra about thinking before we speak, and as friends, we definitely need to keep this in mind, because it’s so important HOW we say things.
When we are truly someone’s friend, and we say things from a place of love then they know it. Even if they do get upset, if we have done it with the right heart, and we have prayed and thought before we have spoken, then we have done all we can to be faithful to them. We never want to attack our friends from a place of anger or judgment. So, as faithful friends, we may end up wounding our friends at times, but if we would pray first and think, then we would definitely have less to repair in our relationships. My friend of 30 years would agree. 😉
Think first,
jamie
considering the word 