Pretty morning! Ate my breakfast pondering in the swing watching the world come alive. The sky is descriptively summer, dark blue canvas with large fluffy bleached white clouds. All my birdies are on the feeders or sipping from the bird baths. The morning is so pleasant but the heat is building. The breeze is blowing in a strange way, making the wind chimes closest to me ping one pipe three times before it pings the next one twice. Never heard this wind chime symphony before. It’s a new melody from Chief and Rosie’s angel wings fluttering around me. The other wind chimes on the porch are silent. I love listening to the wind chime tintinnabulations and composing words to their music.

Came in the house when I got hot and sat in my reading chair thinking about friendship. Went back outside when the hot sun left my swing and was still thinking of friendship and all the wonderful days I spent as a child with my bike riding best friend Chip and our group of friends near by. Lots of bike riding, lots of skating, lots of hose pipe drinking. “Memories are a vast precipice of beauty that carry our hearts through tomorrow,” Unknown.

Having friends to travel through life makes the journey memorable. Friendship is trust and affection between two people. Friendship offers companionship and prevents loneliness. True friends are our confidants and we can rely on them. They love us unconditionally. We can be ourselves when we’re with them with no fear of judgement. True friends are honest and we can trust them. They support and encourage us, care for us no matter what, and tolerate our shortcomings. They always make us laugh and come in an instant when we need them. You just feel good spending time with friends. I’ve made some new friends through my blogging and I enjoy our short conversations on the blog’s comment sections. I feel a kinship with them when we share our work and photography. I’m excited to read their thoughts every morning.

The first person I called when Rosalyn died was my dearest friend. She’s been my confidant for over 40 years. She rushed right over, coming so fast she had two different shoes on. But she knew I needed her and she was there every day till I Chief and I could make it on our own. Her husband died several months after Chief and we’ve been able to support each other and hold hands as we walk down the paths of our widowhood. Marcus Tullius Cicero says, “Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.” So true.

Bible scripture emphasizes the importance of close friendship. “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity,” Proverbs 17:17. Scripture tells us a friend’s love is constant and steadfast. Sunny days or stormy days we know we can depend on them to unconditionally support and encourage us. Proverbs 27:9 reads, “Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.” This verse tells us that true friends bring joy to our soul with their sincere advice and guidance.

I think Jesus had a close friendship with Peter, John, Matthew, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus. They travelled with him and were part of his ministry. He depended on them and surely shared his joys and sorrows with them. John 15:12-13 quotes Jesus saying to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Remember the first stanza of What A Friend We Have in Jesus — “What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.” Have a true friendship with God. He provides love and support and is a source of strength when the storms rage.

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” — Thomas Aquilas