The Richness Of Friendship
I have in the first month of this year attended two funerals. One for a friend who was a few years older than myself, and who had lost a five year battle with cancer, and the other for a friend’s child who died full-term in the womb of his young mother. Both were sad events, but we were all comforted by the fact that we know that both now reside in heaven.
Apart from the services that were both amazingly beautiful ceremonies, I was moved by the richness of the friendships that were evident at both, along with the communication and support that surrounded each of the events.
Friendship is so important if we’re ever to live a rich life. Without true friends – those whom we can depend on in both the good and the not so good times – we are poor indeed.
Friends provide us the support we need. They gird us and they goad us. They draw out the best and encourage us to be better. They provide the strength in our weakness and the light in our darkness.
A kind word from a friend can sustain me for a year. For they are the oxygen in our air. They are the sunshine in our day. And to have a sufficient supply of friends we simply need to bring to the relationship table one, and one thing only, and that is – to be friendly.
