Faithfulness is typically the stuff of covenants, of contracts, of licenses.

We pledge to be faithful, to prove worthy of trust, in our personal and professional relationships: to our God, to our neighbor, to our mortgage company. Sometimes our pledge is accompanied by a signature or a vow, with "substantial penalties for early withdrawal."

The point being, faithfulness feels like obligation. Which gives a curious context to the English Standard Version's rendering of Psalm 37:3: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

Imagine. We are asked to personify and befriend Faithfulness to God.  

How good might it be, first, to personify Faithfulness to God, and then to esteem Faithfulness as a cherished friend, rather than as an obligatory relationship?  

But how might that work? Well...

Think of a person who is a cherished friend. Now think of another who is an obligatory relationship--a project, you might begrudgingly say. Your mother or your boss--or some other person of influence and authority--has insisted that you befriend the latter person. (Or, maybe your mother or your boss is the obligatory relationship!)  

How would you describe your energy around the cherished friend? By contrast, how would you describe your energy around the obligatory relationship?

How then might your energy shift if you were to befriend, rather than begrudge, Faithfulness to God?    

What would it take to make the shift? Might the next verse, Psalm 37:4, offer a clue to making the shift?