WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP?

    
FRIENDSHIP

     The following poem, A Familiar Deprivation, is dedicated to the late Evelyn Welsh:  Evelyn Welsh was a Cardiac Care patient of mine when I was working in Home Care.  I dedicated this poem to her because she was a very important part of my life… Evelyn was cheerful and fun and through the years, thought of me as her daughter. She had a son in Florida and a severely physically and emotionally disabled daughter who lived with her.   I found sparkles in her eyes that were meant for me.   Evelyn listened to my dreams. She looked at me admiringly and respected me and liked me.  We laughed together and cried together.  Evelyn attended my father’s wake, showed concern for me at my loss.  We developed a close bond and remained friends until her death.

     The person in the poem was a Nursing Home patient whose eyes met mine one day, exactly the way the poem describes.  Her name was Eunice:  her emptiness in life was that she never bore a child…Eunice told me her story.  Of course, I had my losses.  One day, we glanced knowingly into each other’s eyes…and knew, without words that we had experienced the same sense of devastation…we call it…deprivation.

A FAMILIAR DEPRIVATION

Sometimes, there’s a matching of the souls

A meeting of the hearts

As though a moment in time stands still

And you see in each other’s eyes

A familiar deprivation…

You ache and grieve and turn

And

Face to face

And

Eye to eye

You know ~

Feel each other’s heartache…
 And smile, embrace, and go on!

  

Today, there are a few friends with whom I share the same respect and affection.  One is  MaryLou.  She is very dear to me.  She has a gentle way, a beautiful smile, silver gray hair and she listens to me as I speak...We go places and do things together and have fun!   MaryLou's and my interests are the same:  we like to go antiquing, clothes shopping, antiquing again and  we love to laugh together because we find the same things funny!  Everything I say is important to her and what she says is important to me...what a delightful person to spend time with!

 

Another dear friend is Cheryl.  Cheryl and I share our love for our Savior.  We talk for hours about His love and grace and the way the Lord has directed and is continuing to direct our lives.  What a priceless treasure to find a friend who loves the Lord as you do and whose heart understands yours!  We are like-minded and find joy in serving the Lord:  Cheryl ministers to the homeless in our community and is also involved in introducing the Word of God to individuals and groups by way of a pocket-sized Gospel of John, obtained through the Pocket Testament League, which is a ministry that my husband Vincent and I are also part of.

     The Lord  gives us friends...friends who delight us ~ friends who light our way, friends who are dear and friends who are near.  Friendship is a joy to share!   Proverbs 18:24  states:  "A man who has friends must himself be friendly.  But there is a friend  who sticks closer than a brother."  Proverbs 17:17  says,  "A friends loves at all times."   And Colossians 4:6 :  "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one."

Dear Father,

We thank you for the many blessings in our lives.  We thank you, especially for bringing dear ones into our lives who bless us and share life's bounty and life's risk with us.  Thank you for their compassion.

In Jesus' name,

Amen