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The Gift of Friendship
Relationships are deeply saturated with small graces
“The friend who holds your hand, and says the wrong thing,” says Barbara Kingsolver, “is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.”
New friends wait expectantly for us around every corner. We meet them in the Sporting Goods aisle at Tractor Supply, or fishing down along the river, or standing in line at the Stewart’s checkout counter.
Friendships begin small and fragile. But soon they quicken and flourish and become deeply saturated with small graces like kindness, gentleness, wonder, peace, generosity, joy, tenderness. Miracles are not uncommon in a friendship.
Of course, friendships come with challenges such as irritation, pain, awkwardness, anger, bewilderment, disagreement, spite, confusion, and misunderstanding. But these minor obstacles are easy to overcome if the motive is pure, if the driving force is Love.
Visiting Jim
Jim lived only a short distance from my house. Alone . . . and dying of cancer.
I visited him once. Then a few weeks later, I saw his death notice in the newspaper; he had spent several weeks in a hospital, and died there, alone.
Alone. I felt bad for days.
