LesteLoo

I have a dear friend whom I admire so many things about. Yet the one thing that sticks out the most is her honesty. She'll state point blank what she's working on about herself and what she is praying to become. I love this side of her because it makes her real and vulnerable. Honesty between friends is rare and should be greatly cherished.

It's so important to have friends who you can open up to, friends who will sharpen you, and friends who won't judge you. They really are rare. After all, we are all human and we have many faults (or is it just me?). If you can't open up about your faults to your friends and find understanding are they really true friends? If you can't open up about your sins and find forgiveness, are they really true friends? There is so much judgement, critisism, and backstabbing in the world -- a true friend should be a safe place to land. When you are wrong, they should tell you. When you rejoice, they should rejoice with you. When you weep, they should weep with you (biblically speaking that is). And when you ask forgiveness, they should forgive you. Of course all these things should go both ways.

To state the obvious, none of us are perfect and none of us will make "perfect" friends. We no doubt will need loads of forgiveness, correction, and understanding. Thankfully for me, my friends can pour on the forgiveness, not hold back in the correcting, and give me extra helpings of understanding. And lucky for me, they aren't perfect either . . . but quite close:)

So thank you, my dear little red-headed friend. You inspire me to be better everyday. And I do terribly miss having you in town. And thank you my dear, true friends for being so wonderful. I do love you guys so much! *sigh*