Friends.

"And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."  Exodus 33:11

In Psalm 15 King David writes that those who do not do evil against a friend will dwell on the Lord's holy hill.

In Proverbs 17 it says that a friend loves at all times.

"He who loves purity and the pure in heart and who is gracious in speech-- because of the grace of his lips will he have the king for his friend."  Proverbs 22:11

"Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; so does the sweetness of a friend's counsel that comes from the heart." Proverbs 27:9

In Luke 15, Jesus speaks about rejoicing with friends.  

Jesus says that we are His friends if we keep doing the things He has commanded us to do.

In Acts, Paul went to his friends to be refreshed and cared for.

Friendship.
Friends.
Friendly.

God has described what this looks like, or what benefit we have through our friendships, and our friendship with Him.  We are meant to have friends-- to talk face to face with friends, to never do evil against them, to love them at all times, to be pure in our hearts, gracious in our speech, to receive sweet counsel from a friend, to rejoice with our friends, to follow Jesus's commands, to be refreshed by our friendships, and allow our friends to care for us.  They are to be a blessing in our lives.  We are to bless our friends... no, wait, more than that.

"No one has greater love than to lay down his own life for his friends."  Jesus.

We are to lay down our lives?

Prefer one another?

Jesus did it for us.

I am His friend?

He is mine?

Whoa.

I had a profound realization.  The God of all creation was humble enough to become a few tiny cells inside Mary's belly.  Emmanuel.  God with us.  Born in a manger.  Humility.  The God of enormous glory calls me His friend.  The God of the purest humility is my friend.

I am filled with reverence.

Isn't it cute?  Its Shiloh's Fischer Price nativity set.
Do you like how I went from such reverence to a cute children's nativity?