Friends

Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbour who is near than a brother who is far away. Proverbs 27:10 ESV

In regards to this proverb, I think of a family who are good friends of ours. The parents are almost old enough to be our parents, but did Christian youth work when I was a youth, so I've always looked up to them. 

In God's providence, they've become neighbours to us in comparison to our own families. So this family have become not just good friends, but very helpful too with babysitting our daughter, something geography doesn't allow our families to do so often. 

That's the point of this proverb, in many ways, it's more valuable to have literally close friends than geographically distant families. To be honest, that rings true in my family's context. 

This isn't to be a bad reflection on extended families. It's just that geography sometimes dictates that we're not as close as we'd like. But friends who are nearby are more valuable when we're in need. 

If calamity struck your family, who would you turn to first? Would it be a near neighbour or a far brother? Of course the former option is much more practical. And we're thankful for our relatively close friends as well as our geographically more distant families.

"Dear Yahweh, we're so thankful that You're a friend who sticks closer than a brother. You're not distant, but always helping us. May we be good friends and family members. For the honour of Your name, amen"