Kindred Spirits

Have you ever thought about what makes a person your friend? Not just an acquaintance. Not someone that you wave to from a distance. But a person that you can share the deepest, darkest thoughts with and they are there for you. Maybe they are person that you can share your goofiest ideas with and they actually see why that idea isnt so crazy? I think those people are kindred spirits.
I have a few friends that after I first met them, I felt like I had known them my whole life. They are the kind of person that you feel like you can bear your naked soul to them and they would still be right there by your side...whether they agreed with what you said or not. I think thats a rare quality. And I think its hard to get to that place with other people. So many people (men and women) have been so hurt by others in the past that they have a hard time trusting. Trust isnt just an issue for married people. Its an issue for close friends too.
In Sunday school we have talked about having an accountability friend or group of friends. What that means is that when one of us gets off the right path, our friend is to speak up and try to help guide us back. How wonderful to have a friend care enough to do that! How not wonderful for the accountability partner that has to speak up!
How often has a friend of ours dated someone we didnt think was good for them? Or what if a friend was making some really bad life choices? Its hard dishing out the news to our friend that he/she are not making wise choices. And think of how hard it is for our friend to take the news that, at the moment, he/she is really deviating from the right path?
But people that are willing to be accountability partners, have to agree that if someone needs a little nudge that they will be there to serve it and the receiver has to be open to critism and guidance. I think that it takes a mature person to fill both positions. And think of the trust that has to be in place!
I am so greatful for the friends I have. I have friends that I have been with for decades. I have newer friends that I havent known forever but I feel like I have. I appreciate all the guidance, wisdom (and I have some very wise friends), love and caring that I have gotten from them over the years. Like a perfect marriage, my friends have stood with me through sickness and health, wealth and poverty(mostly poverty!!!) and hopefully only through death will we part.