Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—always encouraging, positive messages for Christians everywhere. Every time.

 

Mother's Day will be celebrated in America next Sunday. And in other places around the world as well—wherever mothers are remembered, loved, and honored. I wish mine were still living. But the mother of my children is alive and well, and she definitely is one who deserves to be remembered, loved, and honored. So I will do that this coming weekend. And I trust her children have already made plans to honor their mother by Sunday! (Are you listening, guys?)

 

For many who are reading these words today, their mothers were/are still their best friend. What a nice thing to be able to say. Friendship may not be greater than Motherhood, but it is close. Friendship is a treasured gift from God. It is often a life-long relationship. Several years ago I lost my friend from Kindergarten days to death. His name was Cedric Greenlee. He never married. He became financially independent through a combination of excellent investments he made when he was working in the "bargain basement" of a well-known furniture store in Los Angeles. I have missed him ever since I knew he was gone. For most of our adult lives we lived a continent apart. But we kept in touch. Our friendship was never questioned. He even kept a running count of our high school friends who had died, divorced, or failed in life. As the list grew over the years, our friendship grew closer. At seventy-plus-years we weren't the sole survivors of the Class of 1949, but the class of more than 600 has been cut nearly in half, number-wise. (Bobby Griffin from Laguna Hills, are you listening? It's your friend Tommy Barnard. Let's talk).

 

James Francis Byrnes once said, "Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things in life." Homer wrote, "The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for." And from the humorist Mark Twain came these words, "The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money."

 

Today's epistle is entitled "Friends." It is attached below. Read on whenever you want to feel sentimental again. Or even if you don't. You will find something there that will enrich your life. I promise.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Friend to Many

________________________________________________________________

 

Friends

Tom Barnard

 

sn’t is strange how the words and music of a jingle stay with us for years and years? They may fade to some place in our mental netherlands (meaning “low-lying lands”) and then, without notice, we hear ourselves humming the tune or singing the lyrics. Amazing. Here’s one written by Cole Porter:

 

“If you’re ever in a jam, here I am.

If you’re ever in a mess, S-O-S.

If you ever feel so happy, you land in jail, I’m your bail.

It’s friendship, friendship—just a perfect blendship.

When other friendships have been forgot, ours will still be hot.

(Lah-dle-ah-dle-ah-dle – dig, dig, dig)”

 

Don’t check your hymnal; it’s not in any of them. The beautiful part is that there are other verses (some by Porter, some not). I like the line that rhymes just fine and could have been a Cole Porter creation:

 

“When other friendships have ceased to jell, ours will still be swell.”

 

Or how about these two lines that were in Cole Porter’s original set of lyrics?

 

“When other friendships have been forgate, ours will still be great.”

“When other friendships have been forgit, ours will still be it.”

 

You’ve got to admit—some of those pre-World-War-II songs are still fun to sing.

 

But friendships run deeper than the lyrics of a popular jingle. Friends are ones we are with a lot, or ones we miss when we aren’t with them often enough. Friends are those that can be separated from each other by thousands of miles and sometimes over dozens of years, but when they get together, they feel like they have never been apart. Elbert Hubbard wrote, “Your friend is one who knows all about you and still likes you.” Amanda Kunkle said, “Friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget.” One of my favorite “friend” quotes is attributed to Olympic Gold Medal rower/winner Anna Cummins:

 

“Do not save your loving speeches for your friends till they are dead.

Do not write them on their tombstones; speak them rather now instead.”

 

But my most favorite poem on friendship was written by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik:

 

Oh, the comfort—the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person,

Having neither to weigh thoughts,

Nor measure words—but pouring them

All right out—just as they are—

Chaff and grain together—

Certain that a faithful hand will

Take them and sift them—

Keeping what is worth keeping—

And with the breath of kindness

Blow the rest away.

 

I want to invite you to join me in an act of kindness for a friend this week. Ask the Lord to bring to your remembrance the name of a friend that you haven’t heard from for awhile. Don’t be surprised if God whispers the names of several friends. Then by phone, by regular mail, or by email, write a personal note to them. If you are into greeting cards, pick out one of Hallmark’s “very best” greeting cards for friends. Tell them something about themselves that you admire or love. Don’t ask them for anything or remind them that you want back something they borrowed last year and never returned. Just take time to say something nice to your good friend. Mother’s Day is coming. Hallmark has some great words for these dear ones also. It’s not the words that will be remembered; it’s the loving kindness behind them.