What makes a friend?

James Taylor's beautiful song is a wonderful tribute to friendship.

Make friends, make friends,
Never, ever break friends.


A friend in need is a friend indeed.   How wonderful it is when you are feeling down to meet a friend that likes you so much and they want to be with you and cheer you up. The friend could be a member of your family, like a daughter or a son say, the best way to have a life long friend. Unconditional love with laughs thrown in for free.
Husbands and partners can also be great friends.
So what makes a great friend?
 Mutual affection is at the top of the list, without that a relationship will get halted in its' tracks.
Recently I went to a wedding and the bride had lovingly embroidered the seating arrangements. Each table had been assigned a quality that she rightly considered to be an essential ingredient for a relationship.

ADORE
LOVE
JOY
CHARITY
LOYALTY
TRUST
HOPE
RESPECT
CHERISH
HONOUR

My table was 'Trust'. The bride and groom were on 'Adore'.
Once you've decided there is enough affection, love or whatever then the other qualities are team players. They need to work together.

There is a lot of talk these days of toxic relationships, cutting people out of your life that hurt you, but is that a good thing? I'm not sure. Maybe the toxic ones make you appreciate the healthy ones more. Maybe you can heal the toxic ones and make things better.
One thing wasn't on the bride's list that is important is 'Communication'. Text messages and emails can be cold and distant, a relationship won't survive long with those unless there is a good deal of affection behind them.

Adore, love, cherish, charity, honour, respect, joy, trust,hope