To Have a Friend

To have a friend is to have one of the sweetest gifts; to be a friend is to experience a solemn and tender education of soul from day to day. A friend remembers us when we have forgotten ourselves. A friend may praise us and we are not embarrassed. He takes loving heed of our work, our health, our aims, our plans. He may rebuke us and we are not angry. If he is silent, we understand. It takes a great soul to be a friend. . . One must forgive much, forget much, forbear much. It costs time, affection, strength, patience, love. Sometimes a man must lay down his life for his friends. There is no true friendship without self-sacrifice. We will be slow to make friends, but having once made them, neither life nor death, misunderstanding, distance nor doubt must ever come between.

Anonymous

Photo: Elm Street Antiques