Love and Friendship

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, ... interests, or ... histories. ... 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. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

I learned personally a long time ago that no-one can take away personal pain. We can numb it, deaden it using alcohol or pain medicine, but actually it is still there underneath. We can seek distraction but it is still there. She cried much of yesterday when I was away from her and later when she was with me. Words can cause so much pain and given in rejection. But I cannot take away the pain, only be a friend.

Friendship is an important aspect of human relationships and essential to being-with another person. A spiritual director is sometimes called soul friend, someone who accompanies another. I am learning the importance of being a friend in every situation. for friendship can make all of life shine brightly even in the middle of the darkest night. I know that for the many I call friend in their difficult life situations. God give them his shalom.

Love and weakness

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

I'm learning that love requires vulnerability and openness. When love is exercised in strength there very different products or results to when we operate out of weakness. In weakness we need the other, in fact we recognize our need of the other when we recognize our weakness rather than strength. Life is fragile and walking in the snow might seem a beautiful thing, however when we see it as a comforting duvet in which we want to rest or sleep, life becomes fragile. A dangerous episode.

Seoul had 25 cm of snow yesterday worst snow fall for 41 years and the city ground down to a halt. The Korean determination or will power or strength of will I love but is also contains danger or risk when exercised without care.