Friendship is a gift of God. Some of us are blessed with good friends. But as it happens, these friendships are taken for granted in some cases and not valued. It is similar to a case of two couples. Say one has no child even after many years of marriage and the other has many children, more than they can manage. What do you think? Will the couple with many children value the children as much as the couple which has none? Everything is relative in life. We value what we don't have and give less valuable to what is freely available with us. Friendship is one such relationship.Why should we value friendships? What qualities does a good friend bring in our relationship that makes the friendship so valuable? Let us examine some of these.

Judgment - a good friend is rarely judgmental. We can be open in our behavior with our good friends because we know that they will not judge us. We can enjoy this freedom only with friends. It is nothing short of a blessing, because with other people our actions and behavior are always calculated and guarded and that takes away lot of pleasure from our life.

Share Sorrow and losses - A friend can be depended upon to share all our problems and sorrows. This sharing may not reduce the impact of loss but helps us to unburden ourselves. This is no small gift of friendship. Once I saw the image of a man left alone in the village after an earthquake. The whole village got killed except this man. With who, will this man share his sorrow? A friend gives us this gift.

Hope - During our times of trouble, only a friend comes forward and gives us encouragement and hope. With that inspiration one begins afresh. At times in life when we feel totally devastated and hopeless, and when our self-esteem reaches a big low, a friend helps us regain confidence in ourselves.