For My Friends

I love that the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel about friendship.
One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon is Mosiah chapter 18 because in my study and application of this chapter, I have learned about the covenant of baptism. I like to call it the covenant of friendship because truly, that's what it is. Thank you, Heavenly Father for blessing me with the commandment to be a good friend.

To me, we are emphatically taught in Mosiah chapter 18 what it means to "come into the fold of God, and to be called his people." The way is clear; God has commanded us to be friends. Through baptism, we promise to God that we will "bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; yea, and...mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and stand as witnesses of [God's love] at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death...that ye may have eternal life." Or in other words, endless life spent in the presence of God, our loved ones, and friends. Furthermore, we have been commanded "that there should be no contention one with another, but that [we] should look forward with one eye...having [our] hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another...And...that [we] should labor with [our] own hands for [each other's] support...And there [is] one day in every week that [is] set apart that [we] should gather [ourselves] together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord [our] God, and also, as often as it [is] in [our] power, to assemble [ourselves] together...And again...the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he [has]...And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God...to every needy, naked soul." And because the people of Alma had become real friends "they did walk uprightly before God, imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually according to their needs and their wants." and "they [did] sing to [God's] praise forever."

Today I want to thank my dearest, sweetest, closest friends. I love you. Thank you for showing me God-like love, for accepting all of my craziness, meticulousness, and insecurities. Thank you for showing me your own kind of craziness and loveliness. Thank you for our memories, secrets, laughter, adventures, parties, and mistakes. I'm grateful that God has blessed me through you.

I'm also grateful to Shauna Niequist, for recording my own thoughts and feelings more eloquently than I could ever express:

"Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are."

"Friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are, they'll leave. But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is about risk. Love is about risk. If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it's really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges."

"the closer you get to someone, the more that friendship gives you and the more force and power it has to make your life bigger and richer."