by Rebecca Thomas

Created on: November 18, 2009   Last Updated: December 14, 2009

God sends friends into our lives - some for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime. It's these "lifetime" friends who come along side us as "family" and make our lives rich and meaningful and definitely blessed. "There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who stick closer than a brother." This is a well-known proverb from the Bible.

When you meet someone for the first time, there is always an impression created. It is either a good one or a bad one. For those who have had a positive effect on us, we tend to meet them again, and could possibly grow in our liking and fondness for that person, and then a friendship begins to develop. In due course of time, some friends become very close, sometimes as close as family to us. Soon they are considered part of the family. They are present at every family function, or any important event that the family celebrates. These are joyful and meaningful additions to the already existing biological family.

There are also some unfortunate cases, in dysfunctional families, where friends take on the role of a sibling or even a parent to fill the void that has been caused by the death of a family member, a divorce of the parents or some sad situation.

In either case, there are friends who become so close to us, that they become closer than our biological family. They become a very close knit part of our lives, and become like family to us! These friends share our lives with us - our joys and sorrows, and also to fill in the gaps that have been left vacant by bad situations in our family life. For example, where there is a son in the family who has left home, and wandered off to live his own life might have left a hole in his sister's heart. She might in turn have found a male friend who took her brother's place in her heart and life, and in that way become an integral part of her family life.

Each of us have our own set of friends, some closer than the others. Meeting together as often as possible, and spending time together, creates a bond and attachment that makes friends like "family". The support that the friends give, and the care and kindness that they show is so true of what a family does. I was separated from my family for about 8 months. During that time, my friends "pampered" me and take care of me, in the same way my parents would have, and the void that they left was was duly filled up by them. I had most of my meals taken care of, which meant there was no need to worry about food. Christmas, Easter and birthdays were spent with them, and I was even treated like a daughter in their homes. It was a really great time in my life to see friendship being lived out in the everyday routine called life. What a blessing!

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