I have been planning my Thanksgiving Day prayer. In preparing it in advance, I have a chance to think about the true meaning of each of my God-given blessings. Today, I am grateful for friends. I don't want to simply say "God, thank you for my friends" and leave it at that. And I'm not thinking of all the people who are superficial friends - those who don't know the real me. I want to offer my heart-felt thanksgiving for the people who see my heart.

• I am grateful for the friends with whom there is no need to hide my true feelings.
  
  
  
  • I am thankful for my friends who know Christ's love and will offer truth even when it hurts. (Proverbs 27:5-6)
    
    
  • I am thankful for friends who influence me toward love, forgiveness, and right actions, instead of joining me in my brief flights of anger, jealousy, lack of compassion, and all the unkind actions that may tag along. (1 Corinthians 15:33)
  
  
  
• I am thankful for friendships that survive and even thrive through hardships. (Proverbs 17:17)
  
  
  
  • Like Ruth, who left her home to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, into a strange country. (Ruth 1.16-17)
    
    
  • Like Jonathon, who loved David as much as he loved himself. ( 1 Samuel 18.1-3)
    
    
  • And like Elisha, who would not leave his friend even when he knew the Lord was about to take Elijah away. (2 Kings 2:1-14)
  
  
  
• I am thankful for friendships where the goal is that of strengthening and encouraging one another. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 27.17)

These deep, loving, friendships are made possible only by God.
I am thankful for true friendship that I find in my Christian brothers and sisters. Friendship like this is fueled by our common love for God and his word and by the bond of one Holy Spirit - the Spirit that binds us to God the Father and God the Son and to each other. (Ephesians 4:4-6, 1 Corinthians 12:13) Jesus told his disciples to love one another in the same way he loved them. (John 15:12-15) Jesus, of course, knew perfect love. We may not feel love like his, this side of heaven, but through the Holy Spirit, we are able to taste it.


True Christian friendships are valuable. I will thank God for them. I will pray for each friendship to remain strong and pure. I will ask God to show me what I must do to help that relationship grow. I will pray consistently for each friend.

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.
It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." C.S. Lewis

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