"Trouble shared is trouble halved, and joy shared is twice the joy" is a saying in German. Israel's King Solomon wrote something similar 3000 years ago.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

For Christians it is the exemplary life of our Lord and master Jesus Christ that is the ideal for our daily life, our thoughts and actions. We are to follow in His footsteps. Why not follow His example of friendship, too?

Jesus exemplified two important keys for friendship. When Jesus told His disciples that they were His friends, He mentioned those two keys. We find the first one in John 15, verse 13: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Surely Jesus was referring to His impending death to pay the penalty for sin.

But we also lay down our life for our friends when we sacrifice our time for them. What is life after all, if it isn't the time that is available to us every day? Jesus sacrificed His time for His friends – and us.

The second key for friendship is the willingness to communicate with others, i.e. to open up to them. To do so is to share one's self. Here again, Jesus is our perfect example: "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15).

We don't make friends by reading these lines and then hoping a new friend will just pop up from somewhere. Being a friend (and making friends) requires effort. Let's imitate Jesus' example and practice those two important keys of friendship!

With these thoughts I wish everyone a rewarding Sabbath!