Gregory the Theologian said, “If anyone were to ask me, ‘what is the best thing in life?,’ I would answer, ‘Friends!'”
The truth of this statement has continued to bring fresh freedom into my life. Why? Because ‘friendship’ depends on the free will of persons to associate with another person not out of obligation, but out of free choice. As a ‘friend’ I experience the reality of “adoption.”
What is friendship, if it is not the actualization (manifestation) of a love that is born purely out of freedom! We are each free to chose to be friends.
By their very nature, friendships are manifestations of love that is entirely grounded in freedom. “Friends enter into friendship as an act of radical choice. Friendship, in this sense, is the performance art of freedom,” says Andrew Sullivan.
Because we were chosen by “Love” to be loved. We are free to chose to love others. Friendship is the manifestation of the God who is Love. A Love that is bestowed freely.
The best thing in life is to be someone’s “friend.” To be loved freely! I could never have imagined, in myself, who I am or who I am becoming without friends. Friends, who chose to see value that I could not see, who prophetically imagined me as someone other than my biological image, who in exercising their own freedom gave me freedom.
“Friends Can Be Good Medicine” is not simply a good slogan, it is a truth that we each need to embrace. Love, affection, nurturing, intimacy, community —- all of these are “feel good” words for a reason: because they are good. They are good for all of us.
If we are hurting, bruised and bleeding, emotionally, we need a friend. A friend that fills our hearts and minds with good things. We need human contact, we all need to be hugged from time to time. Come on, have you ever noticed how, when a child climbs onto a parent or grandparent’s lap and snuggles in, the whole room feels good?
Yes, the best thing is life is “friends.”
So this blog is over, but not your response! Go call a friend or better yet go see a friend!
