{"id":718,"date":"2011-12-04T22:55:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-04T22:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flightofthesoul\/?p=718"},"modified":"2011-12-06T01:17:25","modified_gmt":"2011-12-06T01:17:25","slug":"friends-are-the-family-we-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/2011\/12\/friends-are-the-family-we-choose.html","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s to All Our Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Kindle-Bible-Formatted-Amazon-ebook\/dp\/B0032UYGE6?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=allt0e0-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\">The Bible<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=allt0e0-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0032UYGE6\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> offers two notable examples of friendships. The first is that between Jonathan and David, in which Jonathan walks a slender tightrope between his loyalty to his friend David and his devotion to his father Saul. The second is that between Ruth and Naomi, which gives us the beautiful verse that has been adopted by lovers but in its spirit holds the heart of true friendship&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWither thus goest, I will go, and where though lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest, will I die, and there will be buried: the Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Samuel-Johnson-Oxford-Worlds-Classics\/dp\/0199538336?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=allt0e0-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\">Samuel Johnson<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=allt0e0-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0199538336\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>, who knew the fragility of friendship and said that \u201clife has no pleasure higher or nobler than friendship,\u201d tended to place friendship on the same level of significance as marriage a joining with a brother in a space of safety and joy and peace.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s to all our friends, our soul families and all the interconnections that nourish our spirit and fuel our days with love.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flightofthesoul\/2011\/12\/friends-are-the-family-we-choose.html\/best-friends-start-early\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-763\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-763\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/305\/2011\/12\/Best-Friends-start-early-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/flightofthesoul\/files\/2011\/12\/Xander-and-Buddy-waiting-for-class.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-764\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/305\/2011\/12\/Xander-and-Buddy-waiting-for-class-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U9196hi1IvY\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U9196hi1IvY<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bible offers two notable examples of friendships. The first is that between Jonathan and David, in which Jonathan walks a slender tightrope between his loyalty to his friend David and his devotion to his father Saul. The second is that between Ruth and Naomi, which gives us the beautiful verse that has been adopted&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-getting-bare","category-love-you","category-soul-centered"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Here\u2019s to All Our Friends - Flight of the Soul<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/2011\/12\/friends-are-the-family-we-choose.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here\u2019s to All Our Friends - Flight of the Soul\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bible offers two notable examples of friendships. The first is that between Jonathan and David, in which Jonathan walks a slender tightrope between his loyalty to his friend David and his devotion to his father Saul. The second is that between Ruth and Naomi, which gives us the beautiful verse that has been adopted&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/2011\/12\/friends-are-the-family-we-choose.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Flight of the Soul\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/melanielutz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-04T22:55:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-06T01:17:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=allt0e0-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0032UYGE6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie Lutz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mobilemel\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Here\u2019s to All Our Friends - Flight of the Soul","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/flightofthesoul\/2011\/12\/friends-are-the-family-we-choose.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Here\u2019s to All Our Friends - Flight of the Soul","og_description":"The Bible offers two notable examples of friendships. 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