We have all heard the sayings: No man is an Island. There’s no I in team. And all of the other teamwork and group motivators all of our lives. Really up to this point, I have always just thought of these as good ol sayings. But when you look at our lives, our culture, our history, our creation, God created us as social creatures. In the beginning, God made only one person and then said it is not good for man to be alone, so he created woman. God wants us to be social, not just social media social, but living breathing social interaction. If you look at society today we will have 200,000 friends on Facebook, but are rarely seen in public. Everybody needs someone; Adam and Eve, Mary and Joseph, Batman and Robin, Batman and Alfred, Sid and Nancy, Kermit and Ms. Piggy…

What really got me going on this was the sermon at church this weekend. Our pastor was talking about our natural need to be linked to others, and the friends that we have. We need to really look at our “friends” and see which ones will still be there when we are truly down and out. We have all had the friends that are around when times are good, but as soon as things get the slightest bit rocky they are no where to be found. Your true friends are the ones that are: Yelling hey guys watch us; smacking you in the back of the head stopping you from doing something stupid; right there for you whenever you need them with the right words to say or just to listen to your rants. Then main example that our pastor used this weekend was the story of Jonathan and his armor bearer in 1 Samuel 14. Having someone three that has your back no matter what is happening, no matter how crazy your idea is, they will follow you because you have that kind of relationship.

Another example to think of are the cliques and sub-cultures of our society. People will unintentionally start movements with their actions, and others will just follow along. Some even try so hard to be different that they loose themselves in their own group, and then become the norm. Again it is how we are hard wired, we need companionship.

Let me leave you with one last story…. My 4 year old has gold fish. This is our 3rd or 4th round with fish, but this time she is really into it, and apparently we got a couple good ones. One of the fish then had to take a ride to the ocean. The fish that was still in the tank became really slow and lethargic, before it had been always on the move and making sure the other one was eating even though it appeared to be sick. We told our daughter that the other fish had died but we would get another so that “fishy friend” would have another friend to swim with. Had I not seen this with my own eyes,I would thinkI was lying to you, 5 minutes after the new fish got into the tank, this was a different fish. He was zipping around the tank, going nuts, the same as it had been just a few days before. He had a new friend to be with, his life was back in balance.

So my challenge to you, is to think about your “friends” and see if you maybe need to trim off some dead weight, or if you need to work on your relationships and be a better true friend, to your true friends.