Made of dearer stuff

The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.

—Barbara Kingsolver (1955- )

When we honestly ask ourselves which people in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing, and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

—Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment, for it is an old one you have always had, right from the beginning. This commandment—to love one another – is the same message you heard before.

—I John 2:7 (New Living Translation)