[Faith-talk] {Spam?} Daily Thought for Wednesday, June 8, 2016

[Paul Smith]

Hello and greetings from a more normal temperature here in the 
Baltimore-Washington metro area, even though weather people say it's 
below normal, but it's just the temperature I like.  I hope that you 
are all doing well today, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

The following short article has no author attached to it, but I think 
it's a good one.  It is entitled "The Value of Friends," rendered as follows:

A variety of friends who are all so different in character? How is it 
possible that I can get along with them all? I think that each one 
helps to bring out a "different" part of me.

With one of them I am polite.  With another I joke.  I can sit down and 
talk about serious matters with one.  With another I laugh a lot.  I 
listen to one friend's problems.  Then I listen to another one's advice 
for me.  My friends are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  When 
completed, they form a treasure box.  A treasure of friends!

They are my friends who understand me better than I understand myself.  
They're friends who support me through good days and bad.  Real Age 
doctors tell us that friends are good for our health.  Dr. Oz calls 
them Vitamin F (for Friends), and counts the benefits of friends as 
essential to our well being.

Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of 
depression and terminal strokes.  If you enjoy Vitamin F constantly you 
can be up to 30 years younger than your real age.  The warmth of 
friendship stops stress and, even in your most intense moments, it 
decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%.  I'm so 
happy that I have a stock of Vitamin F!

In summary, we should value our friends and keep in touch with them.  
We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together and 
pray for each other in the tough moments.  Some of my friends are 
friends on line.  I know I am part of theirs because their names appear 
on my computer screen every day and I feel blessed that they care as 
much for me as I care for them.

Thank you for being one of my Vitamins!

Well, whoever you are who wrote this short article, on behalf of those 
who will read it from my group and individual distribution lists, thank 
you for sharing with us a glimpse of your innermost secrets with us.

And that will do it for today.  Until tomorrow when, Lord willing 
another Daily Thought message and article will be posted, may the God 
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and 
collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian 
friend and brother, Paul