I really do love the good, old ways. Values that carry from generation to generation are tried and true. Friends are like that. When your grandchildren have children and you still have a childhood friend standing beside you all those many years... that is a rarity, indeed. I have such a friend. From the 3rd grade to the present we have kept in communication. All-be-it at times there have been spasms of neglect, never the less, times and situations have brought us back in touch. I reflect on this now, for as innocent 3rd graders, we could have had no idea how the thread of our lives would remain unbroken for almost four generations.
We did not start out as best friends, although we were both in the same schools and knew the same classmates, I didn't go to her wedding, nor she to mine. Circumstances and tragedies in our lives seem to have kept our friendship in tact. Over the years, if it wasn't her rough times, it was mine. Sometimes it was both our rough times that collided until it was hard to tell who leaned on whom. Although our social backgrounds had it's various differences, that didn't affect the need we had for each other’s company. For centuries people have wondered what makes for a true friendship. Well, I can tell you what it is not. It is not the good times and high social events, nor is it the weddings and the funerals, nor the closeness of business associates. It goes much deeper. The other person has an indefinable characteristic you lack. At your weakest point your friend is the strongest. When you are ready to "throw in the towel", the friendship says "Keep going!" A true friend does not ask for, nor expect any payback. All she wants in return is love and loyalty. A price unfathomable.
This special friend of whom I am speaking of had a stroke three years ago, which left her paralyzed in both her left arm and leg. Having to learn to speak again was a major accomplishment. When I had to ask over and over what it was, she said it was not a bother for her to repeat and repeat the same phrase to me. It not only helped me to understand her, but it also helped her to perfect certain syllables that were unclear to others.
At this point in her life she is terribly depressed. With love overflowing in my heart, I had to impress upon her that depression is pride of self. (A bitter pill to swallow) Little by little she has come to see the logic of it. Right now, as I write this, she is sitting in a funeral home. Her husband had suffered a brain aneurysm and died a few days earlier. Of course, I was at her side immediately.
One thing that bothered her immensely, as he laid in a hospital bed, and she at home in a wheel chair, was that she never told him how remorseful she was over her matrimonial misgivings. I urged her to call and speak to him and bear her heart. This was hard for her to do, but she finally did. Those who were at his bedside said he smiled as a tear or two formed in his eyes. I write this with tears in my own eyes as I recall how many years I lived without my Lord. I let so much wasted time and bitter feelings control my life trying by myself to solve my problems. 1 Peter 5:6-7 tells us to cast all our cares upon Him, for He careth for us. What an easy, and yet difficult verse to learn and to put into practice. I implored her to trust the Lord, for He promises to never leave or forsake such a one.
She goes back to Pennsylvania to a nursing home in a few days from the writing of this article, where of course, their solution to depression is to medicate with yet more anti-depressant pills. How much longer I will have my loyal friend with me in this world, I do not know. I can only pray diligently that she keep that verse of scripture close to her heart and diligently seek Him. The old paths are by far the best.
