[Background (don't be misled-this post is actually NOT about romantic relationships, entanglements, or even marriage)*
A friend loveth at all times,
And a brother is born for adversity. (King James Version)
In wedding vows, this roughly translates to the part about for better or for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Spouses should be giving and receiving this support so naturally as part of marriage that it needn't even come up in conversation. Sadly, even the most "happily married" among us do not commonly experience this is as reality.]
Regardless of relationship status, our FRIENDS are the ones that will help us survive. Though it is highly unlikely that we have, or ever will have, made such official, and public, vows with THEM, the unwritten code of True Friendship outlasts most every other kind of relationship in our lives.*
And we've finally made our way back to THIS post...
So, a Friend loveth at all times...right?
There is no "catch" to this well-known passage. It is complete and unabridged, and needs no modernizing to make it understandable. What it does NOT say is probably more important than what it does.
It does NOT say:
A friend loveth
when it's convenient.
Or when it makes sense.
Or when you're RIGHT.
Or when you're at church
Or when you ASK for help
Or on certain holidays
Or when YOU need Something,
Or when your back itches in that
one spot you can never reach..
A FRIEND loveth you
When you weep,
And when you weep for her,
When you laugh, and
Not just when you
make her laugh.
A Friend loveth
to make you smile,
And will do all she can
to double your joys,
And to halve your sorrows.
A Friend, a TRUE Friend,
Loveth through ALL the years,
And through ALL the tears,
And keepeth, without ever being asked,
all the very best of YOU
Safe and Pure in her heart, and
Is ready to remind you
In an INSTANT
WHO you STILL are,
Before you completely forget.
