Friendship Grace

When I read this verse this morning, I immediately paused to give thanks for the abundance of people in my life who love me well and whom I am blessed to call friends. Then I started thinking about the traits that make someone a good friend—they are loyal, trustworthy, encouraging, honest, fun-loving, understanding—the list goes on. It would be impossible for all those traits to be embodied in one person. So while a friend loves at all times, I think our friends each love us in different ways, and that is okay. Often, there is conflict in a friendship because they aren’t meeting an unknown expectation we have placed on them. Maybe that isn’t their gifting. This verse reminds me to use the gifts God has given to me to be the best friend I can be to others. Yet, it also reminds me to extend the same grace to others, which I hope to receive, when I don’t meet their expectations of me.