Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Friendship (04/04/05)
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TITLE: THE GATEWAY TO ETERNITY | Previous Challenge Entry
By Babashola Ogunfuye
04/09/05 -
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True friendship is a wealth that endures more than any material wealth could. It is like sound health which until it be lost its value can’t be known. It breeds harmonious relationship among people. And just like the piano brings forth sweet music because of the harmony on the keyboard, true friendship is unity, peace, consonance, and consistency wherever it is found.
There is a balm in every (true) friendship that can soothe away any kind of pain and also heal many ills. Power is made available in the tender sympathy of a friend who is committed to your growth- spiritual, moral, and social- and in bringing out the best in you.
A true friend will help you forget the mistake you made in life; share your pains; and make your joy increase. He would be interested in seeing you through when all others could see in you is that you’re through. He is one who won’t sympathize with your weakness but helps you fulfill destiny and attain greatness. He also won’t get in your way except and unless he sees you on your way down.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” “…but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Prov. 17:17; 18:24, NIV). A good friend would be one who understands our past; believes in our future and accept us tday for just the way we are.
Now, friendship rests largely upon admiration. So we need to develop
the quality which attracts noble qualities in others. We all need to devote more time for friendship cultivation. For we cannot get what we cannot give. Harmonious thinking produces harmonious living! That is why the apostle Paul implores us in Eph 4:3 to “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” We should not be stingy with our cordiality if we want to gain friends and share more abundantly in the larger harvest of life. When we open the door of our heart to people, it brightens their hearts; This in turn makes us become as welcome as the sunshine to gladden and warm the lives of all those around us. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote: “Our chief want in life is soeone who shall make us do what we can; this is the service of friends.” This service is a jewel that stands out in the sun.
Tolerance is all that makes the difference. It cannot exist in an environment of prejudice. They are incompatible- extreme opposites. Tolerance is not agreement with the other but merely recognizing that he is entitled to his own opinion; and yet permits to live together in harmony.
There is a favorite ancient prayer which says: “O God, help me to
see thee in every other life even as I find thee in my own being.” This also
calls out the truth of an old saying: “if God is my Father, then all men are
my brothers.” We should ever constantly strive for togetherness and oneness in spirit, mind and character. This is true friendship. It is the only true
gateway to eternity. And such is the will of God.
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