Friends at all Times

Loved it when this family of life long friends popped in by water to visit!

October 23

While cleaning off my desk, a very old envelope fell upon the floor.  The front of it said, "For Betty."

Inside, on a cut-in-half index card, was this note to my mother.

"Dear Betty,

     Keep this by your bed for the New Year. It is a comforting thought and also quite true.

Best wishes for 1975.  Love, Bubbles"  (Isn't that a great nickname!)

Also enclosed was a small, cutout article titled:
"Thought of the Month...Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow"
It reads:

"There are two days in every week about which we should not worry:

One is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.

The other day is tomorrow, with its possible adversities and blunders. Until its sun rises we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

That leaves only one day-today. Any man can fight the battle of just one day.  It is only when we add the burdens of those two awful eternities-yesterday and tomorrow-that we are liable to break down."

                                                                                              Illinois Medical Journal.

While this article didn't reference God in anyway, Matthew 6:34 does hold similar words of wisdom.

"So do not  worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."

But this isn't what touched my soul about this forty three year old note.  You see, I know the story of these two girl friends.  My mother struggled with alcoholism for as long as I can remember.  Also, two months prior to the writing of this note, my mother's father was murdered and eleven days later I found her mother dead from a heart attack.  Life was tossing this only child a really rough patch and a friend who loved at all times was offering encouragement.

"A friend loves at all times."

Proverbs 17:17

A dear friend of mine told me once, "Boo, who will find two kinds of people in your life, those who are givers and those who are takers.  Learn to recognize the difference and don't let the takers suck you dry."

While there is wisdom in those words our days don't all look the same. There are the days when we can be like "Bubbles" and with the help of the Holy Spirit we can pour into the lives of others.  Then, there are down days when we need to be lifted up!

For me the beauty of this friendship was that no matter what ugliness attached itself to one or the other, they loved!

I'm taking out a piece of paper with Proverbs 17:17 on top and listing all the names of friends like this in my own life and thanking God for them.