Since Connie Kline and I have inexorable affinity, we are planning a Covenant Service hopefully to be officiated by Chaplain Steve Coss, Pastors Bob Standifer and Linda Standifer. The service will be held at Westminster Suncoast and open to all who may wish to attend. The conclusion of the service will begin with the following special reading:
TRIBUTE
I love you not only for what you are, but what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.
I love you for putting your hand into my heaped-up heart, and passing over all the foolish and frivolous and weak things which you cannot help dimly seeing there, and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful, radiant belongings, that no one else had looked quite far enough to find.
I love you for ignoring the possibilities of the fool and weakling in me, and for laying firm hold on the possibilities of good in me. I love you for closing your eyes to the discords in me, and for adding to the music in my worshipful listening.
I love you because you are helping me to make of the lumber of my life not a tavern but a temple, and of the words of my every day not a reproach but a song.
I love you because you have done more than any creed could have done to make me good, and more than any fate could have done to make me happy. You have done it just by being yourself. Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.
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