A friend loves at all times… ~ Proverbs 17:17

There are three unbreakable rules for maintaining healthy friendships.

1) Always believe the best.

2) Always believe the best.

3) Always believe the best.

Otherwise, how can a friend love at all times?

Just below the surface, often there are reasons why someone does something. Be patient until those motives are unearthed. And if you discover in time, they are unsound, selfish, or even vindictive; still, always believe the best… of your heavenly Father who allowed betrayal. Then forgive.

Friends can become enemies.

But what I tell you is this: love your enemies and pray for your persecutors; only so can you be like children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on good and bad alike, and sends the rain on the honest and the dishonest. If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect? Surely the tax-gatherers do as much as that. And if you greet only your brothers, what is there extraordinary about that? Even the heathen do as much. There must be no limit to your goodness, as your heavenly Father’s goodness knows no bounds.  ~ Mat 5:44-45 (NEB)

I am preaching to myself. If I feel a conflict in my heart toward another, and I probe it, I often find that I did not believe the best, even when others have disappointed me.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ~ Matthew 6:14