I'm always astonished at how some people on Facebook have hundreds and hundreds of "friends." How do they keep up with that? It exhausts me to even think about. Then again, I understand the term "friend" is used rather loosely there, but it does make me think about the importance of friends, true friends, whether it's one or one thousand.
The scriptures have some wonderful lessons I love on what true friendship really means (one of my favorite stories was in a recent New Era and is now on the youth.lds.org website, but I'll tell it here).
We all need good friends and need to be a good friend. Some of my favorite examples from the scriptures of what this means include the account of the men lowering the bed into the house where Jesus was teaching, the various accounts of Gideon in the Book of Mormon, and the mothers of Heleman's stripling warriors.
In the New Testament when a man was sick with the palsy (not sure what exactly that is, but it doesn't sound like something I'd want to have) his friends carried him to the place where they knew Jesus would be. Clearly some of them at least had enough faith to know Christ could heal their friend. When the room was too packed for them to get the man inside, rather than give up, they got creative, maybe desperate, and they took him to the roof where they made a hole and lowered him down to the Savior. The man was healed both spiritually and physically. We need to have friends who will take us to Christ, no matter the effort. We need to be that friend.
In the Book of Mormon we can read various accounts of Gideon. He was a very brave and wise patriot. Not only was he willing to fight for the freedom of his people, and even give his life for truth (which he did), he also knew when to step back, slow down, and be patient. He could have killed King Noah, but stopped when he saw a more pressing matter. When King Limhi wanted to search out kidnappers among his own people and punish them, Gideon said to slow down and look at different possibilities--he avoided war. When they were captive he came up with a plan for their escape. Then finally, he gave his life in defense of the truth against Nehor. We need friends who will help temper us and look at the bigger picture, and who will be wise in their righteous endeavors. We need to be that friend.
Last, I love the story of Helaman's stripling warriors. What a faithful, brave, and strong group of young men. They must have had some amazing mutual activities! Certainly they were friends who had the same ideals and values, who always supported each other in doing what was right. But so must have been their mothers. These mothers were all willing to send their children off to battle, yet they had the faith that if their boys would obey they would be saved (they must have all been living very righteously up to that point in order to merit such a promise). But those mothers also must have supported each other and encouraged each other. I'm sure they didn't get together and gossip or fritter away their time. They must have served and taught and done all things that would build faith and testimony in order for them to have such courage and knowledge. We need friends who will build our faith and support us in doing what's right. We need to be that friend.
I love that Christ called His disciples friends. I'm sure He needed friends to support Him, whether in times of teaching a sermon on the mount, or times of suffering and anguish as in the Garden of Gethsemane. He needed friends even in death as He asked His friend to care for His mother. He was a friend to all, faithful and sinners alike. We need Him for a friend. We need to be that friend to others.
I'm so blessed to have those kind of friends, both in my family and out, for whom I am eternally grateful. I hope they know how much I love and appreciate them. I pray every day my children will blessed to have and to be that kind of friend, too.
