What's friendship?

I've been saying for a long time that many people are really bad with relationships, even though we are in relationships with people all of the time. We may have friendships, romances, family, friends, friends of friends, teammates, and acquaintances. Even with the increase of technology allowing us to communicate less directly to people, at least some in-person interaction with others is unavoidable. We all have relationships and see others in various types of relationships, but we still struggle with our relationships. In terms of relationships, practice does not make perfect because we often don't have the right mindset in relationships.

Two MTV shows currently highlight this struggle. Paris Hilton's My New BFF(best friends forever) and Bromance. The shows are very similar in that a group of people are competing in challenges to be the friend of a very financially rich person. Bromance stars Brody from MTV's The Hills who has a lot of expensive things and is cherished by shallow materialistic girls that he meets. Several young men are competing to be his friend. Paris Hilton has several young women and 2 flamboyant young men competing to be her friend.

Genuine healthy relationships do not begin like this. I have to wonder if anyone would be competing for their friendship if it was not on TV and if the stars of show did not have a ridiculous amount of money. The motivation is to seek what can be obtained from the relationship.

I have been blessed with several great friendships. With my friends there is a real trust and an enjoyment of being around the other person. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (NIV)." Real friendships have the motivation of "what can I give of myself?" instead of "what can I get out of this?" Real friends are there for you in both good and difficult times. Real friends are simply there.