Today a friend came by to visit that I’ve known since the early 1980’s. In that time we’ve come to know each other’s families. We’ve come to know each other well, including many faults and shortcomings. But the friendship persists and gets stronger as the years go by. We had lunch, took some pictures, and went on the computer. At suppertime we made smoothies with ingredients of peaches, grapes, and strawberry gelatin. The main thing accomplished was to reaffirm our friendship and to feel good about each other and ourselves. I read to him what I wrote a few days ago: “The truth is we need loyal friends who like us. Beyond all our shortcomings and failures, they can see something good in us. It may be a mystery what they see, but that doesn’t matter. In fact a little mystery suggests we have some depth. We are not simply straw men or paper cutouts. The unanswered questions of affinity are the nicest thing about friendship—to like and be liked without knowing completely why. It is the feeling that someone cares and is looking out for us. It is the feeling of grace.” Today we felt the graces of friendship in many ways undergirded by U.S. citizenship—
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
