are you my BFF?

Does the a person you consider to be a best friend have to have a mutual perception?

It’s a question I’ve been contemplating for a long time.

What makes a best friend? Does it have something to do with the fact that you have similar beliefs, share the same mind, cannot talk forever and yet begin a conversation right where you left off, see a talent others miss, can talk about anything and everything for hours or minutes, wear the same clothes, finish each other’s sentences, know exactly how the other person would react to a certain comment or event, eat the exact same thing or the exact opposite, learn more about yourself and God through the interaction? Or is such a formula or list of characteristics fit just one set of BFFs? Does each pair create their own definition?

I think so. And therefore I think it’s acceptable and plausible to have differing opinions about the Bestness of your friendship. And really, best friends count mainly at 8-year-old birthday parties where it designates who gets to sit by the birthday girl and have the 2nd piece of cake after the 1st goes to the queen bee for the day. I’m not saying best friends don’t or shouldn’t exist. The definitions change so much that assumptions about what a best friend looks like, who it should be, why it is so, how it came to be, and what it requires or advantages the other has in the relationship isn't really important to the outside world. The result of abundant joy and lavishing love from this friendship is important. That, the world can see, appreciate, and even benefit from as such adoration only tends to bubble outward. Ooze in my case probably.

The Gospel writer, John, wrote about himself as the beloved. Jesus held him close to his heart in a unique way. Jesus didn't exactly confirmed this, probably because, as God, he has equally abounding and unmeasurable love for everyone, despite the tantrums he through at the temple. And yet, all the Gospel writers talk about a certain few that Jesus hung out with a lot including Peter and John. Peter inherited the keys to heaven and was told to be the rock or foundation on which the church was to be built. So John received a certain extra measure of love. He’s writing his autobiography a little bit so he had the liberty to elaborate as he perceives. I’m glad that John felt worthy enough to claim such affection.
Regardless of the mutual feelings toward bestestness of friendship, I should claim it for myself that I have a friend who delights in me. One, a couple, some, many, endless friends delight in me and I delight in them.