Do not pity a person with only one friend. Instead feel sorry for someone who has a thousand acquaintances. Because once you find a true friend, it will be forever. Robert Alan said it well when he wrote: “The rain may be falling hard outside, but your smile makes it all alright. I’m so glad that you’re my friend. I know our friendship will never end.”
“Remember,” Cindy Lew reminds, “the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.” How true. For he “who finds a faithful friend,” a Jewish saying states, “finds a treasure.”
I have known some people who have no true friend. The reason is that they judge the outside appearance of a person, not what is inside. Value a person for what he is and not what he has.
Allow me to share this story sent to me via electronic mail: A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves, he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him.
As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of pesos worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of pesos in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
As a sort of comparison, the e-mail explained: “It’s like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
“We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.”
In other words, there is a hidden treasure in each of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. As such, we have to see each person the way God sees them.
We always hear this saying: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” However Edgar Watson Howe has this suggestion: “When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.” Sounds a good advice.
Recently, my best friend sent me a card. I read it several times because it gives the ABCs of friendship. Here’s what was written: “Accept you as you are. Believe in having fun. Cherish time together. Dream big dreams. Enrich, comfort, and delight. Follow up and follow through. Grow forever memories. Honor each other’s feelings. Invite you into their hearts.
“Just call to say, ‘How are you?’ Know when something’s up. Love you, no matter what. Multiply joys, divide sorrows. Nurture each other’s souls. Overcome adversity together. Pick you up when you are down. Quickly forgive and make up. Remind you of your greatness. Smile when they think of you. Thrive on shared trust. Understand when to ‘just’ listen. Value time together. Walk with you, side by side. Xperience ups and downs. Yearns to stay connected. Zest to life, love, and laugh.”
American humorist Mark Twain shared this thought: “The holy passion of friendship is so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring in nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.”
Now, find a friend – a true friend. An unknown author penned this statement: “Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can’t stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you’re down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end.”
By the way, the verb “to love” in Persian is “to have a friend.” If you say, “I love you” could mean literally as “I have you as a friend.” And if someone tells you, “I don’t like you,” it simply means “I don’t have you as a friend.”
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
“Remember,” Cindy Lew reminds, “the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends.” How true. For he “who finds a faithful friend,” a Jewish saying states, “finds a treasure.”
I have known some people who have no true friend. The reason is that they judge the outside appearance of a person, not what is inside. Value a person for what he is and not what he has.
Allow me to share this story sent to me via electronic mail: A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves, he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn’t look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him.
As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of pesos worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of pesos in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
As a sort of comparison, the e-mail explained: “It’s like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn’t look like much from the outside. It isn’t always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
“We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.”
In other words, there is a hidden treasure in each of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. As such, we have to see each person the way God sees them.
We always hear this saying: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” However Edgar Watson Howe has this suggestion: “When a friend is in trouble, don’t annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.” Sounds a good advice.
Recently, my best friend sent me a card. I read it several times because it gives the ABCs of friendship. Here’s what was written: “Accept you as you are. Believe in having fun. Cherish time together. Dream big dreams. Enrich, comfort, and delight. Follow up and follow through. Grow forever memories. Honor each other’s feelings. Invite you into their hearts.
“Just call to say, ‘How are you?’ Know when something’s up. Love you, no matter what. Multiply joys, divide sorrows. Nurture each other’s souls. Overcome adversity together. Pick you up when you are down. Quickly forgive and make up. Remind you of your greatness. Smile when they think of you. Thrive on shared trust. Understand when to ‘just’ listen. Value time together. Walk with you, side by side. Xperience ups and downs. Yearns to stay connected. Zest to life, love, and laugh.”
American humorist Mark Twain shared this thought: “The holy passion of friendship is so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring in nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.”
Now, find a friend – a true friend. An unknown author penned this statement: “Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can’t stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you’re down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end.”
By the way, the verb “to love” in Persian is “to have a friend.” If you say, “I love you” could mean literally as “I have you as a friend.” And if someone tells you, “I don’t like you,” it simply means “I don’t have you as a friend.”
For comments, write me at henrytacio@gmail.com
