The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is the basis for all lasting relationships it is the very breathe of life and without it we are hollow reeds blowing in the wind.

It is at the heart of what it means to be fulfilled and alive. We talk about the 'open hand' of friendship because friendship is about love and for love to grow it needs to be give away and we can only do that with open hands and an open heart. 

Anyone reading this blog will know I am a really big fan of quotes and one of my favourites about friendship is "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born," by the French-Cuban author, Anais Nin. 

This has been so true for me throughout my life and the excitement of growing older is that every day may bring a new friend and the experience of a new 'world' into my life.

'Friendship' has a rare diversity and like 'Love' has many aspects. With my old school friend Kathy in Oxford, England, I share a unique friendship one that is an essential part of who I am as it was formed when I was still a child. We only see each other rarely but when we do it's as though we have never been apart 

Other friends are part of my daily life, they are truly fellow travellers on the journey of life even though we may not physically see each other we are only a phone call or email away.

Some friends are part of my working life, some come into my life for a while as we share an experience, some are what are known as 'fair weather' friends. But each one touches my life in some shape or form and leaves a tiny footprint on my soul. 

Friendship is also developed though family however just because you are family it doesn't mean to say you are automatically going to to be friends, quite the opposite in many cases right from Cain and Abel down through time families can be fraught with jealousy and bitterness.

But isn't it wonderful to see the bonds of friendship uniting a family? Watching families working and growing together to overcome their hurts, their past history to develop an understanding of each other and their lives means so much. It certainly has meant so much to me to see this with my own children and for me to come to a deeper friendship with each of them because we are all willing to adopt a more 'open-handed' approach to our relationship.

In my work as a Celebrant I have developed some amazing 'friendships' if only for a short time because the very nature of a Celebrant's work is having to touch the heart of a couple or family's relationship. Sometimes there is a real connection, an empathy, a soul-sharing if you like as you work with them to celebrate the love in their lives at that moment in time.

However, the truest and deepest of friendships is the one where two souls touch and are fused together as one by Love - one soul in two bodies - a Love that is eternal - a Love that not even death can destroy. Such a Love is the greatest gift, the greatest blessing - Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of these is Love. 

Seeds of Friendship blossom and grow because we are willing to 'open' to life, to go beyond our comfort zones to open our hands and hearts and when we do we discover what fun friendships can be and we all need fun in our loves.

Sharing laughter with those we love and count as special friends is the elixir of life itself, it is the best of all medicines and it's only side effect is that you feel so happy and so much better!

So on this glorious Sunday morning let us Celebrate our gifts of friendship!

For in the words of Joanathan Lockwood Huie -

Celebrate! Celebration is an expression of Gratitude. 
Gratitude is like the prayer while Celebration is the 
hymn and sacred dance. Celebration is its own road to happiness.' 

A toast to Friendship!