Be a friend to others. It sounds easy, doesn't it? But here are some ground rules from Solomon. Don't boast about yourself. Don't be jealous. If your friend is doing something harmful, speak the truth to them but in love. And then there are a few verses more difficult to understand:

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth—a stranger, and not your own lips. A stone is heavy, and sand is weighty, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy? Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy. The sated appetite spurns honey, but to a ravenous appetite even the bitter is sweet. Like a bird that strays from its nest is one who strays from home. Perfume and incense make the heart glad, but the soul is torn by trouble. Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your parent; do not go to the house of your kindred in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is nearby than kindred who are far away.  (Prov. 27:1-10).

A friend who is close (or friends of our parents who are nearby), can be more meaningful in our lives than family who are far away. They can become like family. If that is the case, then Solomon says that when trouble strikes we should go to our neighbor nearby instead of our kindred who are far away. This kind of relationship, though, implies that when someone is that kind of neighbor to us it is because we, also, have been a neighbor to them.

Meditation: During my life, I have lived in rural Indiana and here in Indy, and in small and middle towns in between. In each place, my relationship with my neighbors differed. Here in Indy, I've become close enough to two of my neighbors so that I've given them keys to my house on occasion so they could check on things (and dogs) when I'm away. In the country, I've had neighbors walk in without knocking, bring me dinner when they noticed I was working late hours, and come over and offer help (or advice) if they saw me working at some outside task. I even had one neighbor call the police on me thinking I might be a drug dealer!!! (Interesting story there). More and more, though, my true neighbors aren't necessarily those who lived next door to me; they're my church community or my work colleagues. Who is your neighbor? To whom are you a neighbor?