Best Friends

Proverbs 2:17“Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.” (NKJV)Did you know that today is National Friendship Day?John Gottman, one of the foremost researchers on marriage, teaches that deep friendship is the foundation of a healthy relationship. Friendship creates the trust, intimacy and commitment that allow love to keep growing. Before marriage is about romance, responsibilities or rings, it is about two people learning how to genuinely enjoy, understand and accompany one another.Proverbs 2:17 offers us a cautionary picture of what happens when that friendship is forsaken. It describes someone:“Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.”Notice how the verse holds those two losses together:She forsakes her companion—and forgets her covenant with God.Apparently, how we handle our closest human relationships can reveal something about how we are relating to God. When companionship becomes disposable, covenant can become forgettable.Now, this verse is not telling people to remain in relationships that are abusive, dangerous or destructive. Sometimes separation is necessary for safety and healing. But it does invite us to examine how easily we can stop treating the person beside us like a friend.Today also happens to be the anniversary of the day my wife and I chose each other again. Ten years ago, our marriage completely unraveled.We spent about nine months apart and man…I wish that pain on no one.Now I don’t have time to tell that whole story today, but I can tell you this…that we found our way back to one another.And on August 2, 2017 we remarried (the best “re-doing” of a thing I’ve ever done besides becoming “re-born”.)What helped save our marriage wasn’t pretending that nothing had happened. We had to rediscover the friendship beneath the fracture.We had to learn again how to listen, laugh, trust and walk together.But this proverb reaches even deeper than marriage.Every healthy friendship echoes the divine friendship underneath all existence: our covenant relationship with God.That is the most important friendship in the cosmos.God is not merely a distant authority issuing instructions from above.God is the faithful Companion who walks with us, knows us deeply and continues calling us back into relationship.Our friendship with God teaches us how to remain present, repair what has been broken and love people without treating them as disposable.And when that divine friendship is alive, it gives every other kind of love room to thrive.🔥 REMEMBERCovenant is strongest when companionship stays alive.🙏🏽 PRAYERFaithful Friend, teach us to protect friendships holding love together.🎯 TODAY’S CHALLENGEDo one intentional act today that says to someone you love, “I still choose our friendship.”About the AuthorFred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch📱 Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app or just click that Subscribe button right now! Get full access to Hey Fred Lynch! at heyfredlynch.substack.com/subscribe