Friendship - Bread for the Journey

A waitress in a busy restaurant hurriedly put an overflowing mug of hot chocolate infront of me.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “We didn’t have a cup big enough to hold it.”

Little did she know that her comment was a fitting conclusion to the day. With stories to tell and time to tell them, a friend and I had driven through a landscape awesome in its majesty and variety. The trip had taken us to Arches National Park in Utah. In this region of sculpted earth and red stone millions of years in the making, a sign on a marked trail caught my eye: “Fiery Furnace- Hiking Permit Required.” A nearby notice urged visitors to travel in the company of others. The terrain was rough, and the warning had obviously been made for reasons of safety.

Rough terrain or smooth, who better to journey with us than a friend? A friend is a companion, “one with whom we have shared bread.” Both bread and friendship bring nourishment; both are universal to the world.  

 In friendship’s generous choreography of give-and-take, we offer who and what we are. We gain strength from its consistency and bask in the warmth of its acceptance. Now and then this relationship of choice is given to us fully formed; more often, it is woven slowly through generosity of trust and time.