Week 15 Day 4

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Friendships Endure

If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23

Take up thy cross, let not its weight

Fill thy weak spirit with alarm,

My strength shall bear thy spirit up,

And brace thy heart, and nerve thy arm.

Take up thy cross, and follow me,

Nor think till death to lay it down;

For only he who bears the cross

May hope to wear the glorious crown.

Lincoln never forgot his friends. They were important to him. In spite of the war, he even refused to let go of his friends in the South. “We are not enemies but friends,” he insisted in a letter to a rebel friend. “We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.” The significance of friendship endured even through bloodshed. It was the very thing that helped keep the country together even while at war. Have you given up on old friends because of disagreements or separation? Lincoln believed a friendship could survive heated battles, dogged disagreements, and even the killing fields. He pursued them relentlessly. Will you?