Susan's Thursday morning note April 26, 2018 Quotes on Friendship. Friendships compared to cells in honey combs.
My angel of dawn is peering through my window this morning with her finger to her lips and a glance to the nearby tree. She leads my view to smile together and watch our little robin stealing remnants from my back yard. My little friend having no idea my morning angel and I are watching her fly up to build her nest. Giving her our friendship from the other side of the pane. Being her quiet friends who are loving to see her from afar. She has no idea she is bringing us joy as she works so diligently designing her little home. Who else is watching her gather? Little squirrels that will drive her crazy shaking her home in a few weeks as they run by? Little spiders already heading her way to make little homes in her nest twigs? Little butterflies resting this morning. Where are they sleeping before their daily flight? Are they watching this little mama robin and proud of her, too? Are they all family who live near my home? I like to imagine their conversations and their pride in each other as they watch each greet spring in their own way.
This week I read an intriguing paragraph on friendship. Amy Carmichael worked over 100 years ago in India with orphans. Gold by Moonlight was printed in 1935 on trusting the reality of God when you don’t see evidence of Him. This paragraph was on there being no end for the capacity of friendships in our lives. She shows the bee-hives of honeycombs as an example of the space in our lives for friendships. Each having their own little comb. Each their own treasured space. After her description I have written out favorite quotes on friendship that I hope you can picture different friends in your mind as you read. Friends. Little robins. Maybe a honeycomb cell just for my little friend making her nest this morning. Friends. The wren that came back to say hello yesterday. Friend. Beautiful word.
Amy Carmichael: “There is no limit to love. We were never meant to be like a pool of water which grows just a little shallower with every pebble dropped into it. A city of many houses, a house with many rooms – that is what we are meant to be. The rooms do not impinge on one another; they grow, each a perfect thing, like the cell of a honey-bee in the comb. And to each friend is a cell into which no other ever enters. For as in Aaron’s breastplate each precious stone had a name engraved upon it, each was set in an “inclosing” of gold, “And they shall be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before the Lord,” so it is with the jewels of friendship; each jewel has its name engraved upon it, each is set in its golden inclosing. And they are all upon our hearts when we go in before the Lord. New guests welcomed into our city without walls, new precious stones, new powers of loving, those are among the starriest flowers to be found on any Matterhorn.”
“Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry…I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.” Charles Schulz
“The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.” Henry David Thoreau
“This love is silent.” T.S. Eliot
“Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates an impression by remaining silent.” Dalai Lama
“What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined – to strengthen each other – to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.” George Eliot
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.” George Washington
“Good friendships are fragile things and require as much care as any other fragile and precious thing.” Randolph Bourne
“My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.” Helen Keller
“The friend of my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” Ulysses S. Grant
“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to us when we discover that someone else believes in us and is willing to trust us with a friendship.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey
“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” C.S. Lewis. The Four Loves
“Why did you do all this for me?” he asked. “I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.” “You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.” E.B. White Charlotte’s Web
“Stay is a charming word in a friend’s vocabulary.” Louisa May Alcott
“A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face.” Maya Angelou
“Be slow to fall into friendship, but when you are in, continue firm and constant.” Socrates
“I am treating you as my friend, asking you to share my present minuses in the hope that I can ask you to share my future plusses.” Katherine Mansfield
“Ah, how good it feels! The hand of an old friend.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Winnie the Pooh Quotes on Friendship: Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.” “I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen.” “The things that make me different are the things that make me.” “I don’t feel very much like Pooh today,” said Pooh. “There there,” said Piglet. “I’ll bring you tea and honey until you do.” “We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?” asked Piglet. “Even longer,” Pooh answered. “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart.. I’ll always be with you.” “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” “Some people care too much, I think it’s called love.”
…to each friend is a cell into which no other ever enters….so it is with the jewels of friendship; each jewel has its name engraved upon it, each is set in its golden inclosing. Thank you for letting me enter your Thursday morning again. The heavens are beautiful this morning. Our morning angel staying in our minds encouraging us to look up where the promise of peace awaits our glance. Encouraging us to look down to see the little tulips beginning to awaken. Encouraging us to look into eyes, to touch heads of our little ones. To stop. To think of where we want to be in a few years, in a few weeks, in a few hours, in a few moments. That we want to be aware of the gift of this moment. The gift of those who love us. The gift of knowing we can look to the heavens and know we are encouraged from those who love us that we cannot see. To be grateful for this beautiful gift. Today. Susan
Latin for this week: Fidus Achates – faithful friend Alter ego– “Another I” (Zeno). Soul mate, close friend. Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore– “I hope that the memory of our friendship will be everlasting” (Cicero). amicus– companion, friend, comrade nil ego contulerim jocundo sanus amico – “There is nothing which, in my senses, I should prefer to a dear friend.” (Horace) Intimus– a close friend or confidant. Works Cited: Carmichael, Amy. Gold by Moonlight. 1935. Donaver Book. Great Britain.