Thanksgiving for the gift of friendship

Today my friend came to join me for lunch at work. She's one of those friends who is more than an acquaintance, one I can call a kindred spirit or soul mate because we are able to talk about things at a deeper-than-surface level. Not all of the people I call friends would be comfortable eating lunch across the table from two people with disabilities, one of whom won't eat unless everything is slathered in ketchup! I also appreciate the fact that my friend isn't a stand-offish sort who waits for introductions, but takes an immediate interest in the people around her and introduces herself. She's a low-maintenance-and-high-satisfaction-kind-of-friend.

Today my inbox holds more wonderful words from Henri Nouwen:

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.

Today I offer a little prayer of thanksgiving for the friend who had lunch with me, for my high school friends, for my Winnipeg friend in Simplicity, and my San Antonio cousin friend in Theology, for my childhood-and-everything-since friend in Duncan, BC, my furthest friend in Germany, my groupees, my sisters, and sisters-in-law and my parents and parents-in-law. Life certainly wouldn't be as bright without friends!

Who makes your life shine more brightly?