A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for a time of adversity.
Proverbs 17:17 NIV
Friendship
Peace and Friendship Treaties were the basis of our relationship to each other in the Maritimes in the 1700s. They set the terms of coexistence. They were signed between the British and representatives of Mi’kmaw nations and other nations. The British were victorious over the French, but Mi’kmaw people and other Indigenous people here had been, for some time, supporting the French. When the competition between the British and French ended, the British wanted to ensure that the Mi’kmaq and other communities would live peaceably with the British. So, these particular treaties are about ensuring the terms of peaceful coexistence, and how we live here together.
***
So many of our common expressions spring from the Bible. While the Bible doesn’t use the exact phrase “a friend in need is a friend in deed” that expression is defined perfectly in Proverbs 17:17: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” We all need friends. Some of them are people we love to spend time with when things are going well and with whom we share similar interests. Only a select few, however, are those we can call when things are not going well, and we are facing seemingly impossible situations. They will sit with us when we just need someone nearby. They will pray with us when we need God’s intervention. A true friend loves at all times, a friend who may be closer than a brother. The Greek have a word for that kind of love – philios. We get the word Philadelphia from it. May we all learn to love this way, manifested in the most challenging times.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley