Adversity and friendship
Before you make a friend eat a bushel of salt with him.George Herbert, "Proverbs" in The Complete English Works, 275. This saying is funny almost…
The good friend
Derek Kidner, in his commentary on Proverbs, offers the following outline describing "The Good Friend" according to the Proverbs in the Bible. Four Features of…
Trade places?
Seneca advised that people should allow only those to influence them “who teach us by their lives, who tell us what we ought to do…
Bald tires
I just got new tires for my truck. Honestly, I let them go a bit longer that I usually do. They were looking pretty bad.…
Summer job
During college, my summer job was to work on an assembly line building kitchen cabinets. I was on the "base" line, which meant we built…
Fast friends
Friendships take a long time to forge. I've written here about the idea that we should expect to invest 400 hours before we really feel…
Reciprocity
"Mom, how come I don't get letters in the mail?" "Do you write letters, Danny?" "Well, no." "If you want letters to come to you--try…
True friends
One of the most touching scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring is when Frodo's friends tell him that they will be going with him…
Generosity
"The feeling of being owed will destroy our ability to do generous work....""It draws our eye to the mirror instead of the work....""Gratitude isn't a…
Leadership is lonely
If you're a leader, you're in a different category--one that by definition automatically has fewer people in it. Sometimes this comes at a surprise. When…