Monthly Archives: July 2021

“True friendship is never serene.”
~Marquise de Sevigne

As we are rarely at unison with ourselves, and as we are often even slightly at odds with one another in marriage, true friendship is no bed of roses.

Proverbs speaks a lot about this rare ability for friendship to extract the best out of us. Iron sharpens iron (27:17); and, wounds from a friend can be trusted (27:6).

True friends are not bashful in telling us how it is; they do speak the truth in love. If we are safe within ourselves, beyond feeling vulnerable initially, we’ll appreciate the risks-of-intimacy they take; the candour of their care. They would not speak so candidly if they didn’t care.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP – A RELATIONSHIP THAT WITHSTANDS THE YEARS

As a weather-beaten fence attests to the quality of a decent whitewash, our friendships also attest to their ability to withstand conflict and move on beyond it.

A friendship that lasts and lasts, enduring decades, till death does it part, is not only a blessing to both, but also it’s a testimony to the maturity in both individuals; to their tenacity to get through conflict; to their commitment to follow-up; to their energy in investing in the relationship.

True friendship can withstand more than other more tenuous relationships. True friendships reward courage and they give good value for honesty. We can afford to sow in integrity, and when integrity is important to us, it’s fantastic to be free to be our authentic selves. Friendship like this is an extension of the comfort we can have in being with ourselves.

BEING PATIENT THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES

Friendships are a joy when they are going swimmingly, but when two are opposed, understanding fractures, and trust is at jeopardy. All the more important at those times is respect to not burn our bridges.

All friendships will be tested. And the test will be the test of the strength of the relationship. If the friendship is truly important we’ll find ways of making concessions or we’ll find ways to negotiate our way out of trouble. We won’t give up. Yet we won’t also sacrifice our sensible needs with a friend who won’t respect the mutuality of needs – what the relationship deserves. Friendship runs both ways in general equality.

***

A good friendship is God’s blessing. But true friendships test our maturity and resolve, because true friends are not afraid to speak the truth in love.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

When I was younger I used to spend a lot of time with my friends making friendship bracelets. It was something that was really enjoyable and also something that my friends and I used to do all the time. It was great fun exchanging bracelets and also giving them away as gifts to family members. In fact, it’s something I still like to do even today and since my young daughter has now started to make them I have renewed my interest in this great hobby and pastime.

The one thing that I definitely remember was when I was younger it was quite difficult to find out information on the various different patterns that were available. I come from a small town and it was very limited in the amount of books it has in their local stores that gave you information on the different patterns you could use. I have really noticed how different it is nowadays with my youngest daughter now getting very enthusiastic about this. There Internet has opened up this market to enable people all over the world to share information easily and best of all free.

It’s really all about researching what type of theme you would like for your bracelets. There are many websites out there dedicated with people sharing information, photographs, video and patterns to help each other. I have come across many forums with fantastic information on a variety of friendship bracelets that I could only dream about when I was young. You will find that they break these down into different categories which really helps when you are searching for a particular theme.

The great thing is that my daughter was able to find some fantastic information and was then able to share this with her friends. This is a wonderful thing because most of these free websites give information and instructions it makes it much easier for them to make them. Recently my daughter and her friends decided to try and raise some money for a local charity. By being able to research on the Internet they came up with a vast variety of patterns and then set about making them wait in the idea of settling down and donating all the money to charity when finished.

This is something I personally would not have been able to do when I started out making these when I was her age. Simply because the variety was very limited. When everybody started to purchase these they were purchasing more than one which made it much better because of the variety of different patterns that were available. It’s fantastic that people from all over the world can share these ideas.

The best tip I can give is to simply take your time when looking at the various patterns because of the variety of websites that are now available. Generally, you will find that many of these are top quality from people who are enthusiastic about what they do most of the time they will put in the full passion online for you to easily do. A simple trip to YouTube and you can find many videos explaining and giving information of how to make these. It is so easy to follow that even I with my limited experience from all of them years ago can still do them easily.