Friends

Everyone likes to talk about friends. The ones they have, the ones they had, the ones they wish they had, the one they wish were more. But what IS a friend, really? Webster’s defines a friend as “one attached to another by affection or esteem”. Gee, that’s a bit dry and doesn’t even come close to what a true friend really is. So let me try something out here. A friend is:

Someone that believes in you, even when you’re wrong and making an ass out of yourself. Accepts you as you are, with no need to change you into what they think you should be. One that will always be there to help you get back up, no matter how far away you happen to be. One that will cry with you when you need to, or walk with you through the tears when you can’t walk through on your own. Someone that can see life the way you see it, even though life in their eyes may be different. Someone that will make fun of you, and you will always know that they love you because of it.

So, that’s my kind of friend. The kind of friend I try to be and the one I wish everyone else would work towards. Friends are not family. You get the benefit of choosing them and trying them for a while before you decide they can stay. So often, people feel the need to wear this perfect stage mask around other people. We all do it to some degree. We have work masks, friend masks, family masks, and sometimes, sadly, personal masks. Masks are designed for only one reason, to hide what lies beneath. It takes a certain amount of courage and self-confidence to live life without a mask. But there is the beauty in unmasking, the more you do it, the more confidence you build. God has made everyone perfect. He doesn’t make things wrong or bad or unsightly. Everyone seems to believe that they are less than they really are.

So, let me tell you this today…whoever you are, wherever you are, and whatever is going on in your life right now.

You are beautiful. I know it.

You are amazing. Give me a chance and I’ll see it.

You are awesome. Just let it come through.

I want to know you and see if, underneath everything, we could be friends. So, come out from under your mask, just for a bit, and see what life without it is really like.