What Is a Friend} Part One

Good Morning, or Good Afternoon, or Good Evening, 

this post should take three to five minutes to read from start to finish.

This post focuses on October 1972 General Conference talk and it is called, "What Is a Friend?" by Marvin J. Ashton. This post is part one. I hope you would learn something new as you read throughout this post. 

Marvin mentioned the following; "This day I greet you wherever you are as friends. ... 

Acts of a friend should result in self-improvement, better attitudes, self-reliance, comfort, consolation, self-respect, and better welfare. Certainly the word friend is misused if it is identified with a person who contributes to our delinquency, misery, and heartaches. When we make a man feel he is wanted, his whole attitude changes. Our friendship will be recognizable if our actions and attitudes result in improvement and independence.

It takes courage to be a real friend. Some of us endanger the valued classification of friend because of our unwillingness to be one under all circumstances. Fear can deprive us of friendship. Some of us identify our closest friends as those with the courage to remain and share themselves with us under all circumstances. A friend is a person who will suggest and render the best for us regardless of the immediate consequences. 

... It is well for us to be reminded that we are friends to ourselves when we keep our lives unspotted from the sins of the world and leave ourselves better tomorrow than we are today. It is a worthy daily goal to be a true friend to one’s self. Our responsibility to the widow and the fatherless is to accept them as we find them, but to not leave them without improvement. Ours is to lift the heavy heart, say the encouraging word, and assist in supplying the daily needs.

Aren’t we something less than a friend if we have the gospel of Jesus Christ and are unwilling to share it by word and example with a family, a member, neighbor, or the stranger? Aren’t we something less than a friend if we have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and are unwilling to share it?

FRIEND
F - fight for you, R - respect you, I - involve you, E - encourage you,
N - need you, D - deserve you, S - save you.

A friend is a possession we earn, not a gift. ... Let me share with you quickly a few of the many “friend” references in the Doctrine and Covenants referred to by our Savior: “And again, verily I say unto you, my friends … “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

“… my friends, behold, I will give unto you a revelation and commandment. …” (D&C 103:1.)

“… my friends, fear not. …” (D&C 98:1.)

“… I will call you friends, for you are my friends, and ye shall have an inheritance with me.” (D&C 93:45.)

I bear you my witness that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is our friend. In his loving processes of command, rebuke, greeting, revelation, encouragement, and long-suffering, he daily proves this. Certainly he is willing to take us the way we are, but he wants to leave us improved in his word and his paths.

... It was Emerson who said, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.” No one can be a friend until he is known. A friend is a person who will really take the time not only to know us, but to be with us. One of the finest presents you can give anyone is your best self.

Joseph Smith gave us a glimpse of his measure of friends when he said, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of no value to me.” ... A friend in the true sense is not a person who passively nods approval. A friend is a person who cares."

Stay tuned until next time.