For my birthday, one of my guy friends signed my card not with the usual expressed 'Happy birthday' sentiments but with Proverbs 17:17: 'A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity,' which I honestly thought was hilarious. As an only child, I haven't experienced this much for myself, but for the past several weeks, the verse continues to come back to me, usually when one of my 'brothers' is being 'adversarial'...which in most cases means annoying.
I love my brothers here in this community (my sisters as well) and really appreciate them for who they are. But it isn't always easy. I don't have a biological brother, so sometimes I forget that guys are so different. They joke about things that girls don't joke about. They emit noises that *most girls don't make. And sometimes I want to scream at them to grow up. (And sometimes that desire manifests itself, although I usually try to leave the room before it gets to that point). They are just strange. They think differently, they feel differently, they express themselves differently, they are so completely weird.
But, despite the difficulties/frustrations their weirdness can cause, I love them. Really. Without them life would be so boring. And, what is more important, they have a purpose in my life--they are the iron the Lord uses to sharpen me, the trials the Lord uses to test me (yeah, sometimes it's really that bad) and the tools He uses to grow me. 'A friend loves at all times...'. Even in the midst of annoyance, even in the midst of adversity, I remember these are my brothers, these are my friends, and I (choose to) love them.
*exception: Miru
