Timely Friendship That Heals

The establishing of true friendship at a critical juncture can transform. Friendliness begets friendships.

And over time in the process, friends can help heal emotional wounds.

As Aristotle put it, "Friendship is a thing most necessary to life. Since without friends, no one would choose to live, though possessed of all other advantages."

On my multiple speaking trips to Korea, I'd always wondered about the state of overseas Filipino workers there.

Away from their families back home, how are they coping?

Both interpersonally and in groups, I discovered the secret window of many into the way out of homesickness, depression, or loneliness.

Friendships!

Amid their sub-ideal situation, many OFWS find the value of quality friendships and social gatherings to survive and thrive.

Such comes at a time when, in their loneliness, they might have turned in on themselves. Worse, engage in vices, addictions, or affairs damaging to themselves and their families.

One ingenious comment of an OFW is, "I have no or little time to be homesick and lonely. Because I'm busy keeping in touch with my family on Skype and spending time with my friends here in church."

In therapy sessions, I've heard some clients mentioning our alliance as some sort of friendship during crushing blows.

Let me call it "timely friendship."

It can be rightly said that the friendship, limited though it may be, saved the hurting from themselves!

A true friend is a trusted confidant. He or she accepts you as you are, warts and all. He or she is to whom you are mutually drawn as a companion and ally, whose love for you is not dependent on your performance.

The wise man of the Proverbs wrote, "There are friends who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24 RSV).

Find true friendships. They heal. And help transform you into healthy-wholeness.