Trends vs. Friends

 

trends-vs-friends-picI have noticed when something popular comes a long, a lot of people will ride the wings of the new trend until it dies out. The trend whether it’s a fashion statement or a civil rights movement, it comes in waves and so do its supporters. It’s like fans that like a championship team, but when the team loses the championship next year, they are now fans of another team.

It’s amazing how people have argued and lost friendships over who they are voting for in an election, over which “Lives Matter”, over Church politics, and then when the election is over, when the movement dies down, the trend is over, but the friendships are still lost. How valuable and genuine was a friendship in the first place if it can be lost based off a voting choice or a political prospective. The truth is, the roots of my friendships run deeper than the roots of my personal opinion or preferences. My Love for the individual is greater than my political, social or economic viewpoints that may differ from the ones I call friend. When I reach out to a homeless child, they don’t have any preference of my political standpoint, they just wonder if I carry any more integrity and hope than the ones that abandoned them. When you are on a hospital bed, how foolish would it be for your friend not to come to your side due to a Facebook dispute on voting choices or civil rights.

The Bible says, “There is no greater Love than this; to lay down one’s life for a friend”. If someone is your friend, a trend, opinion or preference could not separate you if that relationship is genuine. If the only people that call you friend are the ones that agree with you, then you have yet to have a real friend. I hope you get a chance in this life to experience true friendship. I want you to know that God is Smiling at You, and it’s okay to Smile Back…PB