Tribute to Friendship

By: Sandra Harris Frey

This past Saturday, August 11, 2007 was a great celebration for one of my lifelong friends. It was her wedding day. Her wedding was held in the same church her parents were married in 45 years ago to the day. Everyone was dressed in their finest attire and many had traveled several hundred miles to witness this momentous event. It was a time of celebration and tribute.

The church was elegantly decorated with candle and floral arrangements. The musicians performed enchanting arrangements signifying the union of these two hearts. However, nothing can compare to the radiance of the bride and groom’s love and devotion to each other as they looked into each other’s eyes and recited their marital vows.

Later, as we all gathered at the reception hall, the celebration continued. There were friends who had not seen each other in over twenty years. Some grew up together in the same small town, some were college mates, and some were friends made upon entrance to the “real world”. Outward appearances may have changed, but all discovered that our core being was just the same as it had been all that time ago.

We talked about the lovely union we had just witnessed, our own weddings, our families, our lives now and what we think is in store for the future. There was the same sweet, vibrant spirit in all of us that we discovered about each other and the reason that we remain friends.

It really isn't about the quantity of time spent, but the quality of time spent together. The same feelings of friendship will still be in the heart whether you see that person once a week, once in five years, or once in twenty years. On August 11, 2007, those friendships were celebrated.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.