When Friendships are Tested

Sometime ago I wrote about Friendship and the unique choice and obligation that comes with being a friend, not an associate. There is a difference.

True Friendship can weather any storm providing that there is love, understanding, respect, and forgiveness. As human beings, frail and flawed, we are always open to mistakes and misunderstandings. Being Individuals, everyone has their own perceptions when it comes to the world around us. We must strive to be conscious and sensitive to the thoughts and feelings of people we care about the most. I am not suggesting walking on egg shells when dealing with loved ones but I am saying take in consideration who and what they are to you and hopefully and respectfully, you can communicate and come to an even area of understanding.

Friendships are often destroyed and thrown to the wind based on a lack of trust and communication. Sometimes things are said that are misinterpreted and are never corrected. Two people who have shared time and connection are no longer bonded by this, such a waste when this stretches beyond the two and affects families and peers, business or opportunities.

There is no loss to you, your pride, your ego, or social standing; when reaching out to an individual to make peace or correct a perceived wrong or misunderstanding, when this is someone you once called friend. The blessing will come in the effort and hopefully the accomplishment.

I will end this week with a quote from a scholar that daily inspires my own thoughts:

"Dear soul, Love alone cuts argument short, for it alone comes to the rescue when you cry for help against disputes.

Eloquence is dumbfounded by Love: it dares not wrangle; for the love fears that, if he answers back, the pearl of inner experience might fall out of his mouth." --Rumi "Mathnawi," from Jewels of Remembrance