Monday, Dec 21 – DAY 23
Every form of love reflects some aspect of the greatest love: agape. Take friendship, for instance, which can also denote kinship. It has been called storge or filios.
In these days, we have reason to cherish friendship more than ever. We’re socially isolated and cognizant of how precious our relationships have become.
Friendship endures. Grows and changes. Expects much from us and yet allows for our mistakes and mishaps as people who try to get it right, but sometimes get it wrong. Friends are sometimes as close as family: they can even become the kindred we choose, as opposed to the families into which we were born.
Friendship serves one part of the Gospel commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As one sage said, “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.” When we look at people as friends, they stop seeming ‘other’ and become someone with whom we share respect and recognition. Caring for our friends, we fulfill that great commandment. — Rev Gail
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. — John 13:34
The strong bond of friendship is not always a balanced equation; friendship is not always about giving and taking in equal shares. Instead, friendship is grounded in a feeling that you know exactly who will be there for you when you need something, no matter what or when. — Simon Sinek
We sometimes choose the most locked up, dark versions of the story, but what a good friend does is turn on the lights, open the window, and remind us that there are a whole lot of ways to tell the same story. ― Shauna Niequist