My Dearest and Wonderful Friend

I feel closest to heaven while in the presence of my dearest friends. In my years of trial and heartbreak, no other phenomenon has intrigued me more than the bond of friendship. It is not obligated, not influenced by petty passion, not genetically predisposed. It endures, lifts, and heals. Indeed, deep friendship is the truest form of mortal love that I have ever known.

How amazing it is, then, that my Lord and Savior would call me not lover or descendant, but friend. He has no need for me. He is not obligated to care for me. But He loves me in the truest way, and He declares to my very being: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . "

I am a friend of God; He calls me friend.