A Friend to the Friendless

Below is Frank, happily resting next to his friend, Captain.

Even though the Captain is young and often torments Frank, Frank still abides with him. None of the other cats like Captain, but Frank is longsuffering.

(sorry the pictures are dark - it's been days of rain here)
Here Frank lays next to a sleeping Foster. Foster, being blind, sometimes nips Frank when Frank gently bumps his head on Foster's chin affectionately. Yet Frank is forgiving.

Recently I was discussing friendships with someone. We both read articles about women who organized "adult play groups" in which the groups of women do something like make pottery or wine-making, etc. This is all fine and good.

However, it made me think about recent get togethers with friends. What do we do? We talk, have a glass of wine, some good food, and tell story after story and we laugh. We laugh a lot. There's nothing burdensome about the time together. There's no agenda. We don't need any distractions except to enjoy the company of the others.

Friendship is at a premium these days. While this is not a "back in the old days" rant, play groups for grown-ups and the internet community lacks something that we all need - intimacy with other humans, face to face.

Is it easy? No. Are we all perfect? Do we sometimes get on each other's nerves with our personalities? Of course. That's where Frank's model of long-suffering and forgiveness comes in to play. After all, these virtues are what Christ modeled for us. In every case, Jesus strove to restore people to community and ultimately to himself.

Choose to do something difficult today.