To You, My Friend...

We go through most of our lives surrounded by people we care about, good people who laugh with us and even cry with us. We hang out with these good people, work with them, share moments of our day with them, call them our friends. We are blessed to have them. But once in awhile while laughing and crying with a certain person it dawns on you that this person is one of the few who knows exactly what made you laugh and feels the reason you shed tears. With a look you understand their thoughts and in their absence you mentally hear their commentary on the happenings of your life. They get you. And you get them. We are given less of these people to walk through life with but the impact of their friendship fills the greater part of our lives. Sometimes they come and go, like stepping stones meant to keep you headed in the right direction. Sometimes they walk through all of life with you as if they were a part of you born into the world outside of yourself. These people are given special titles that attempt to put a label on what we feel about them. They are known to us as Best Friends, Bosom Friends, Soul Mates, Kindred Spirits, Blood Brothers, and many other terms that feebly describe their significance. These people make the ups and downs of making and keeping friends worth it. As C.S. Lewis says, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” The moments you spend in laughter with these people seem all the more joyful and the tears cried on their shoulders all the more meaningful. Time and distance do not dissuade these friendships, although if it were up to you and not the circumstances of life, they would not be far from you for long. My Kindred Spirits and Bosom Friends, you know exactly who you are, I cannot imagine my life without you and I am forever grateful for your love and laughter. Your absence is grieved and your presence is profound in my life. What you act and speak into me is nothing short of a miracle; so much of life’s rapture would be lost without you.