And That's Enough

A friend of mine read my blog titled Reputations the other day and asked me if I would give her the names of the ones who I used in the blog. Some of you are thinking, "That is a bold request", but this is a friend, who in the past, I have shared just about everything with and there is nothing I could say that would surprise her. As I went through the names of those that I had used as examples, she wondered about a few people who I had not mentioned and wondered what their titles were. The one that stuck out to both of us was a former neighbor of mine, who we both knew. He and his (now former) wife were good friends of my husband and myself, and the friend I was speaking with also had some social interaction with them as well. At times my relationship with this neighbor was rocky. He is a very outspoken guy and sometimes came across a little rude. He and I have had a few run-ins in the course of the nearly 11 years we were neighbors, a few of them were tough to move past. He was a close friend of my husband's...one of those guy things where he would spend many evenings in my garage working on cars, shooting the breeze, working on sprinkler systems, etc, etc. Especially when he found himself single, he spent a good deal of time at our home and therefore was witness to some of my worst moods. Embarrassing. However, when push came to shove, even though I didn't always like him, I cared about him as a person. I testified in court in his behalf in a custody trial, I prayed fervently when he was diagnosed with cancer and was told his prognosis was very bad. He was there for me during an injury of one of my children that had me turning in circles in panic mode and helped my child to safety and helped me calm down. As I thought about this neighbor, this friend, my gut instinct was that my "title" would be one of the negative ones. It might have been if I made the summary on only my own relationship with him. However, my husband's friendship with him went into play. I have a title for him and I liked it enough to add him to the list.

He is a loyal friend to my husband and that's enough.

The friend I was speaking to liked this title as well. The good part about it is "that's enough". It doesn't matter all the other things, especially the negative things about this relationship. What shines in my mind is his loyalty to my husband. And that is enough for me.
Love.
Forgiveness.
Loyalty.
It is enough.

A friend loves at all times...
Proverbs 17:17a