They say you can pick your friends but you’re born into family. Well, it’s a happy person if he or she makes a practice of taking good care of both. Losing either one is something that can never be replaced…..no matter how hard one tries.

A pastor years ago talked of the town gossip who one day come and said she had said something so terrible about someone and found out it wasn’t true. She wanted him to “fix it.” He took a pillow and asked her to step outside with him. She followed dutifully and he took a pocket knife to cut through the pillow until the feathers escaped and the wind took them everywhere……. He then told her, it is impossible to retrieve all the feathers again, no matter how hard we may try. It is the same with words spoken against an innocent person. You can never get them back.

I have had many good friends in my life, ones I know I could always count on if I had a need. I would do the same for them. To have a friend you have to be a friend. It is not only good manners to treat others kindly but it gives great dividends. One good turn deserves another. That’s the way it works. Showing yourself as a friend is very contagious…..as good words has a domino effect and are quickly spread to others.

I’d like to share a few words written by Edith Smuin Starke.

APPRECIATION

Cherish that which you have today,
Lest circumstances take it away,
Leaving in it’s wake an empty place
And the touch of sorrow on your face.

Learn to master the art of living,
In both the taking and the giving;
And when you give with all your heart,
In life’s great plan, you’ve done your part.

Essentially Esther