Real friends are priceless.
They are there in good and bad times and speak truth to you in love. A friend accepts you, even if they don’t always agree with you, and gives you freedom to be yourself.
The ability to be a real friend is not something you conjure up at will. You must have first practiced being a friend to yourself before you can give friendship away to others. If you are not honest with or accepting of yourself, you won’t be honest with or accepting of others.
Stephen Covey, brilliant writer and leadership guru, called the type of people capable of real friendship “interdependent.” They understand that there’s a time to get help and work with others, and there’s a time to be independent and rely on yourself.
You are free to be a friend or not. If you appreciate the freedom of spirit and mind that Christ died for every single person to have, you can extend true friendship and receive it.