ARE YOU A 2AM FRIEND?

Is that picture NOT the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?! LOL! I’m not even sure if it has much to do with what I’m going to write about…I just love it!

So yesterday, I heard the phrase, “Are you a 2am friend?” and it stayed with me ALL day yesterday. I woke up this morning to a friend asking what happened to TRUE friendship and I started to think about that as well. I began to wonder what happened to those 2am friends? They come so few and far in between. So many of us have part-time friends who want us full-time and that just cannot be.   Don’t you remember growing up and not being able to be separated from your friend? You were more loyal to your friends than you were your family sometimes lol…what happened to that loyalty and unconditional love? The ability to share secrets and know they weren’t going any further than your lips and your friends ears? What happened to the honor, value and respect people once had for their friendships? When did it become more difficult to separate your friends from your enemies?

I’m sure you’re wondering, “what in the world is a 2am friend?” A 2am friend is a friend that is reliable, available whether it’s 8am, 12 noon or 2am. A friend that grows with you, challenges you when your wrong and celebrates your accomplishments. A 2 am friend and their love for you has all of the attributes of 1 Corinthians 13. You can even replace the word “love” with your friend’s name and see how they measure up:

 ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

So how many 2am friends do you really have? Most importantly, can people consider you to be a 2am friend?

Some of us have friends we once considered to be 2am friends and somehow along the way, we were hurt and questioned the entire friendship off of one incident. “But Peaches, you don’t know what they did to me!! What kind of so-called friend hurts their friends? It’s hard to forgive…”

Trust me!! I know. I have had “friends” lie about me, spread rumors, say horrible things to my face, steal from me, talk about me behind my back and smile in my face. We have all been there, but I remind you of Jesus. How he sat at a table and broke bread just hours before He would be betrayed by someone that he considered a friend. You see, none of us have an idea of what kind of curve balls our friends will throw or how they are going to disappoint  or hurt us. It is the risk we take when building friendships. These friends are humans and with humans, there comes mistakes. Jesus KNEW His “friend”  was not going to be loyal and STILL forgave – So who are we that we cannot forgive. Jesus offered the perfect example of how to be a 2am friend – we have no excuse. I charge you today to forgive. You do not have to become friends and skip through a tulip field LOL that’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is, you must forgive, move on and understand that everyone will not behave the way YOU expect them to. People will not always say the right things. People will not always do the right things. You can only be responsible for your maintaining your joy and having a positive attitude.

Everyone is not going to be a 2am friend; everyone is not cut out to be your best friend. You are going to have those friends you shop with, the friends you only text, your eating friends, etc. But there is going to be those friends that stand out. The ones that you know you can count on no matter what. The friends that always deliver and rarely disappoint. If you were stranded in the middle of a desert they would find a way to bring you home and have water for you when they get to you.

Let’s get back to being true friends to those around us. We throw the term “bestie” and “BFF” around so loosely that people are not understanding the value placed on these terms. Honor when your friends share personal news with you. How would you feel if you confided in someone and they turned around and spread your business? Let’s get back to being support systems and genuinely sharing in our friend’s good news and celebrations. Not because we want to be nosy or we are jealous and want to safe face but because we really love to see our friends filled with joy. Let’s get back to really praying for our friends and not starting “prayer calls” inviting others to “pray” for your friend.

Time for us to get back to being real 2am friends.

Love Ya!

Peaches

EXCEL : LOVE : EXPLORE