Friends

In a Charlie Brown cartoon, Charlie is eating a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and as he eats he notices his hands and becomes enamored with them. He holds them up and starts looking up at them, then muses: "I like my hands. They are fascinating. They really are. I have nice hands. They have a lot of character. Do you realize that these two little hands may someday accomplish greater things? These hands may someday do marvelous works...miracles. They may build mighty bridges, or heal the sick, or hit home runs, or write soul-stirring novels..." Lucy finally interrupts this grandiose musing and puts it in perspective. "Charlie, your hands have jelly on them."

We need friends like that too -- friends who don't worship at our altar. We're only human, not gods.

If you only have friends who think you're wonderful, they aren't friends. They're admirers. And admirers won't hang around long once they see the not-so-wonderful sides of your humanity. Lucy may sometimes seem to Charlie Brown as the bane of his existence, but she'll always shoot straight with him, and he --as well as you and I -- need that.

Are your friends true friends or just admirers? Do they tell you what you need to hear or just what you want to hear? What kind of a friend are you? Are you willing to risk a friendship by telling the truth with gentleness rather than by hiding it out of selfishness?

A friend accepts us as we are
Yet helps us to be what we can be;
A friend affirms us when we're weak--
A friend gives strength to set us free.


Shared by Joe Gatuslao
Bacolod City, Philippines

***
Thank you, my friends... who see my weaknesses (many) and still believe.
Thank you for sharpening me.
Thank you for honesty.
Thank you for that shoulder to lean on.

You know who you are.
Thank You.