Faithless is he...

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

"I've told you things I've never told anyone." -former coworker

"I can't believe he told you about that.  He has shared things with you he has never told anyone but me." -wife of a good friend

There is nothing like a good friend! Or in today's nomenclature a BFF.  For those of you out there that may not be up to speed on current slang, BFF stands for Best Friend Forever.  I was startled the other day when someone I know very well said they did not have a BFF.  The more I thought about it, it broke my heart. I have several BFF's. I have one or two that are probably a step or two above the others, but I would say I have close to a dozen, very close friends and dozens of people I would consider a friend and hundreds of acquaintances in my life. I wouldn't be where or who I am today without them.  These friends and I have been through it all together; marriage and divorce, births and deaths, new jobs and lost jobs, prosperity and hardship.  All of these things help define who we are and our relationship with one another.  We don't always agree.  Frankly, we disagree quite often.  But that doesn't mean we aren't friends. Friendship, true friendship transcends disagreements, arguments and personal failures.

If you are familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien at all, you know that he wrote the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  While the Lord of the Rings may be a story about good versus evil, I think it is more a story of true friendship. The friendship of Frodo and Sam.  How they stuck together through all of the adversity that came their way.  There are numerous quotes that show the enduring friendship that they had.  A couple of my favorites are:

Sam: Come on Mr. Fordo.  I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you! 

Sam: Don't go where I can't follow.

Sam: I made promise Mr. Frodo, a promise!

Frodo: But Samwise Gamgee, my dear hobbit. Indeed, Sam my dearest Hobbit, friend of friends.

And the list goes on and on.  All you need to do is do a search for Lord of the Rings friendship quotes on the Internet.  There were just over 6 million pages that come up, as of this post.  I believe J.R.R. Tolkien understood the power of true friendship.  It is no secret that he and C.S. Lewis were close friends.  He deemed their friendship as one of the most valuable parts of his life.  Friendship and the bonds of loyalty seem to continuously grace the pages of his work and form the heartbeat of his stories.

So not only is this quote about friendship, it is about loyalty.  It's easy to be a fair weather friend.  But where are you when the going gets tough?  The tougher is got on Sam and Frodo's journey, the more loyal Sam became.  We all need a friend, a true friend.  Someone we can share all of our hopes, dreams and fears with. Not only that, we need to be a friend.  Someone that can listen and be loyal even in the tough times. I think Jesus said it best, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  Becoming a friend is simple, take the time to get to know someone.  Listen to what they have to say.  Prove you are loyal and hold what they tell you in confidence. Learn about the the things you have in common and the things you don't.  Some of my best friends and I have radically different world views. That's part of what makes each friendship so amazing and unique.

I've mentioned before, I love my wife, my kids and the rest of my family, but I would be missing a huge part of my life without my friends. I count on them and they count on me.  We're all on this journey together.  And I know that when the road darkens, they will still be there, right by my side.