The Friend for the Worst Day

There are friends for the easy seasons, men who are glad to be around when things are going well and quietly disappear when they are not. The proverb points to a rarer kind. A friend loves at all times, it says, and a brother is born for adversity. The two lines lean on each other. Loving at all times means loving on the bad days too, and the second line names the bad day directly, saying that a brother is made for exactly the hour when everything has gone wrong.

This is the man you need in this fight, not a fair weather companion but someone who was, in a sense, born for your hardest morning. When you have fallen and the shame is loud and you would rather vanish than face anyone, that is precisely the moment a true brother is for. He does not love you less because you failed. He steps closer.

If you have a man like that, thank God for him tonight, and tell him plainly the next time you are struggling, because hiding from him wastes the gift. If you do not yet have one, ask God for him, and ask to become one for someone else.