Friendship is probably the most valued of all relationships because a friend is totally my choice. Parents and relatives are not chosen but given to us, and that has its own inherent value. However, a friend is someone who speaks to our heart, someone to whom we feel a magnetic affinity.
When there is a mutual response between two persons who are becoming friends, then a relationship is born that can last a lifetime and even beyond a lifetime! Friendship is the coming together of equals. Even if there is a difference in abilities, roles or position, there is a vision of equality which does not create any feeling of superiority or inferiority.
This equality of vision permits unconditional acceptance of the other. This creates closeness. There is such a respectful closeness that one does not intrude on the personality of the other, nor does one harbour distaste for any weakness seen.
Since the vision is unlimited, the true goodness of the other is always kept as the measure of the other’s reality; the weaknesses are something foreign, which will make their exit at the appropriate time. Real friends can never divorce.
There is love which not only accommodates any shortcoming but also actively transforms it with a word of encouragement, smiling patience or an act of kindness. With a friend you do not have to prove yourself, for you are loved and accepted for what you are, and what you are is enough.
There is no need for spectacular achievements; all that a friend requests is to “be yourself”. A friend is a friend for all time when there is a need for support or a moment of joy to share. Good times or bad, a friend is ever present, ready to share, to serve, to listen or just to be there.
Friends always have a deep closeness to each other even if they are physically apart. This companionship conquers distance, time or any other type of separation. Their mutual empathy is the basis of their communication.
Though God is my Father, Mother and Teacher, He is also my Friend at the same time.
This communication is something more than just speaking, it is the ability to listen to the other’s feelings that is to tune the self to the other’s being. Such true communication allows for the purest interaction because there is a mirror of clarity where nothing can be twisted or misunderstood, or remains obscure.
Friendship means availability. A friend is available at all times and never says, “I do not have time”, “wait”, “later”, “don’t bother me now”; when there is a great need, a friend rushes there to help. Every confidential word entrusted to a friend is sacred and sealed from the eyes and ears of others.
Absolutely nothing would induce him or her to betray the friend’s trust. Trust is an alliance between two hearts which have learnt through experience that this alliance can never be broken or betrayed. Trust dispels any fear of being misused or abandoned.
God is the most trustworthy of friends; there is really no comparison. Unfortunately, this experience of God’s friendship has been lost. Too often we are presented with a picture of God only as the Father and Judge. This is not a balanced or true picture at all.
God is also the Mother, the Beloved, the Teacher, the Guide, but especially he is my personal Friend, and this friendship permeates my other relationships with Him. With God as a friend, you can be open and know that in that openness there is a loyalty and an understanding of everything that is within the heart.
Though God is my Father, Mother, and Teacher, He is also my Friend at the same time. This simultaneous relationship brings lightness and easiness to all my relationships with God. It is said that a friend of God is a friend of all. Friendship with God teaches and inspires me to be a good friend to others.
Through friendship, there is respect and cooperation, and this creates a unity which is essential for peaceful coexistence; a cooperative friendship enables any task to be carried out successfully.
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU) is an international non-governmental organisation, which intends to help individuals re-discover and strengthen their inherent worth by encouraging and facilitating a process of spiritual awakening.