Your friends are a combination of their good and their bad traits. Are you able to accept them as "a package deal"?

One of the best tips on friendship I've ever heard was from one of my daughters.

Hi, I’m Lysa TerKeurst for Proverbs 31 Ministries.

My daughter, who was in middle school at the time, got in the car one day with tears filling her eyes. Once we pulled out of the parking lot, she let the hurt roll down her cheeks.

“Wanna talk about it?” I asked.

“Nope,” she whispered and turned away. The rest of the night, no matter how hard I tried, this normally vocal child wouldn't open up. So, the next morning, I was surprised when she bounded down the stairs, smiling.

“Hey!  You look happy!” I said as I thanked God for whatever brought back the sunshine to my girl’s life.

“Mom,” she said with great authority, “I've decided something about friends. They all have good stuff and bad stuff. Things you like and things that annoy you. You just have to decide if you can handle their package deal.” 

How wise. How true.