I have always loved lily pads.  These plants are custom built for floating with their roots anchored deep into the muddy soil below and attached by a sturdy rootstalk.  Their broad flat leaves are naturally water resistant as they stretch across the surface of the water to receive maximum sunshine.  As I was admiring the lily pads I was drawn to this gorgeous pair of flowers floating and blooming just above the waters surface.

        As I studied these stunning blossoms I was enchanted by the rainbow of color that shown forth from their friendly faces.  A golden center surrounded by a sea of blues and purples and silhouetted by the muted greens of the lily pads; yes this was a scene that did my heart good to behold.  As I observed the other flowering blooms in this lily pond, I noticed that this was the only one that possessed a second bloom.  Oh, others had close neighbors, some even had relatives, but this one possessed something special, because he had a friend.

        Yes, the lily pad and I have much in common.  We are both good to look at and we each are blessed to have friends. (Well, one out of two, ain’t bad).  Friend; is there a more beautiful word in the English language?  Is there anything more encouraging when you are depressed than a good friend?  When we are sad, you can count on a friend to be there; when you feel alone, a true friend will call.  When you need help, when you are sick, or when tears come, you know your friends will be there to help you.  A friend is one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.  A friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you’ve been, accepts who you’ve become and still, gently invites you to grow.

        Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust completely.   Yes, a faithful friend is one of life’s greatest assets.  Today, let us realize that if we do not have such loving and faithful friends in our lives it might be because we are not being that kind of a friend in someone else’s life.  The only way to have a friend is to be one.  Every fiber of our lives are touched and benefits from reaching out in loving friendship and serving others, for as we reach out to help, we gather something for ourselves—friendship.  Friendship is a choice; choose to be a friend to someone today.

Something to think about:

• A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you today just the way you are.

• You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself, he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.

• Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world.

• Do not keep the alabaster boxes of your love and tenderness sealed up until your friends are dead. Fill their lives with sweetness. Speak approving, cheering words while their ears can hear them and while their hearts can be thrilled by them.

• I love you for what you are, but I love you yet more for what you are going to be. I love you not so much for your realities as for your ideals. I pray for your desires that they may be great, rather than for your satisfactions, which may be so hazardously little. You are going forward toward something great. I am on the way with you, and therefore I love you.

• Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.

• Life is partly what we make it and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.

• The fingers of our Heavenly Father touch our lives when we touch a friend.

Be thankful for your friends
Rickey Moore