Faithfulness Provides (Part 2)
FAITHFULNESS TO FRIENDS PROVIDES FOR STRONG, REWARDING RELATIONSHIPS.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 27:10, 17.
Verse of the Day: “There are ‘friends’ who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Hannah set her food tray on the table next to Becky’s in the school cafeteria. Becky smiled at her friend, reached into her brown lunch bag, and pulled out a banana. She held it in front of Hannah.
“Thanks,” Hannah said. She took the banana out of Becky’s hand and, in one smooth motion, snatched the apple off her lunch tray and set it in front of Becky.
Everett, who was sitting opposite Hannah and Becky, wrinkled his forehead at the girls’ behavior. “What’s that all about?” he asked.
“What?” Becky asked.
“The fruit thing,” he said.
“Oh, that,” Becky said, realizing that he had noticed their trade. She shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“The school cafeteria only has apples for lunch,” Hannah explained, smiling at Everett through a mouthful of braces. “I can’t eat apples because of my braces, so Becky packs a banana every day in her lunch, and we trade.”
“Every day?” Everett asked.
Becky shrugged again. “Just about,” she said.
Everett shook his head and looked at Becky. “You pack a banana in your lunch every day just for Hannah?”
“Sure,” Becky answered. “We do all kinds of stuff for each other. We’ve been friends since second grade.”
“When I had the measles in second grade,” Hannah said, “Becky came to my house every day. Mom wouldn’t let her in because she was afraid Becky would catch the measles too. But Becky still came every day to bring me something and to ask how I was doing.”
Becky turned to Hannah, momentarily forgetting Everett. “And remember when I broke my wrist?” She faced Everett again. “I couldn’t write with the cast on, so Hannah wrote out all my homework for me, for like four or five weeks!”
Everett rolled his eyes. “OK, OK,” he said. “I get the picture. You guys are, like, Superfriends.”
Hannah and Becky laughed. Becky shook her head. “No, we’re not,” she said. “We just know we can count on each other, right?”
“Right!” Hannah agreed.
TO DISCUSS: What do you think it means to be faithful to your friends? How can faithfulness to your friends provide for you and protect you? Are you a faithful friend? Do you have any faithful friends?
TO PRAY: “Teach us, Lord, to be truly faithful to our friends and our family.”