In this season of shortened days and early dusk,
We think with gratitude of the quiet presence of true friends who have been as candles in the window for us.
When we have lost our way, they have held aloft a torch to shepherd us out of darkness.
When we have not understood ourselves,
they have born witness to our goodness and our potential,
and interpreted us to ourselves.
When we have been wounded, they have steadied and strengthened us,
and where they could not heal us,
stayed by us keeping loyal vigil as time worked as medicine on us,
and divine compassion mended our hearts.
When we were empty, parched and dry,
our friends have been as living water to us.
When we had no music, they sang our life’s song for us,
and when we were lonely,
we had but to remember them to trust that we were not truly alone.
O God who is the friend of all souls,
we remember in this quiet of this house the sacred gift of friendship
and give deep thanks for those we have known as friends,
and those to whom we have been able to give our gift of friendship. Amen.
And I’ll give you hope, when hope is hard to find, And I’ll bring a song of love and a rose in the wintertime. – Carolyn McDade, “Come, Sing A Song With Me”