We search for friends with whom to share the deepest joys we know. Our happiness is multiplied by those who join our gladness.

But friendship rests on more than witty fun or shared experience. We form a kind of covenant that pledges virtues we can’t naturally produce: “I’ll stay with you through hard times. I’ll hear you when you’re sad. I’ll walk with you in silence—when you need no extra words.”

These are the qualities of grace—a grace we only learn by witnessing the love that comes from God. Left to ourselves, our friendships would deteriorate, for pride and ego never last. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). “If we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4.11).

This giving generosity of God is what we know as grace. And when we share it with our peers, we watch relationships expand, grow deep, and anchor us in storms.

The friend who brings you joy is one more evidence of grace.

So stay in it. -Bill Knott