In honor of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday we should remember what he said best:”The better part of one’s life consists in his friendships.”
Cherish your friends, your family, yourself. We are classics! There will never be a replica of any one of us.
Even with our so called flaws we should be grateful for our uniqueness. It is in our differences that we are set apart and often remembered.
God must have loved variety!
Not long ago I had a visit with one from the past, with my dear departed lifelong friend, Joyce Duke Moore of Oil City, who passed away in August 2010.
I ran into her friend from Gilliam. I met her at Joyce’s funeral in Vivian. We both gave eulogies from our seats at her funeral conducted by the minister Bill Keith.
Her friend spoke about how people often confused them for each other because of their similarities in looks and personality. Joyce would joke to her friend, “Now you be careful what you do when your are out in public” not wanting to be blamed for what the other had done.
It was such a blessing when I met her friend and have only seen her a few times since the funeral but I continue to be amazed at how much those two resemble each other. More than physical traits they both are women of faith who were and are unafraid to affirm their faith to even strangers they meet in Wal-Mart.
Emotions washed over my spirit after seeing her friend. I still feel Joyce’s presence from our brief visit. I always look her friend in the eye and say “Hello, Joyce!”
God knew what He was doing when He made these two women to look so much alike.
I met Joyce in 1979 when we lived in Vivian. Our children attended the same school. We became fast friends.
I often quipped “all I have to do is plug in my coffee pot and Joyce will appear!” We spent so much time together drinking coffee around the table discovering more about who we are.
Once Joyce sent me a beautiful story with a woman walking out in the water while she slightly lifted her skirt to keep from getting wet. Under the picture were the words “our friends help us test the waters.”
Joyce helped me test the waters and helped me to feel safe to voice my stories aloud before I began to write them down.
I read a beautiful quote from George Eliot that said : “Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weight thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.”
Because I was so insecure then, only thirty-one, I needed a friend like Joyce because she helped free my personality. I found myself during those two years while we were living in Vivian.
I learned to be open in my conversation and empty my bottled up pain from my childhood. I told her things I had never told anyone – like about my mother’s head injury that stunted her emotional and intellectual growth resulting in us going into an orphanage after daddy died at home in 1958.
I read that the difference between a therapist and a friend is that a friend keeps coming back and listening without being paid.
God knew what He was doing when He sent Joyce my way along with Estelle, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and He always gets me to the right place at the right time.
Contact Sarah at [email protected]