“Sometimes it seems the only thing that can get your hopes up after they’ve been dashed is a friend.”

A thought by Ray Johnston (2014-05-13) from his book, The Hope Quotient: Measure It. Raise It. You'll Never Be the Same. (p.111). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Have you found that true yet?

Ray shares, “The story is told of a high school student who wasn’t feeling well. After a few doctor visits, the doctor delivered devastating news.

“‘I’m sorry, son, but you have cancer. That’s the bad news. The good news is, it is operable. Your long-term prognosis is excellent, but you’ll need surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. That process will make you lose all your hair.’

“The young man checked out of school, went through surgery, and completed six weeks of chemotherapy. All of his hair was gone the day he went to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. The doctor cleared him to start back to school the very next day.

“The whole way home, the teen was quiet. His mom said, ‘Honey, you ought to be excited about this. You get to go back to school, see your friends.’

“‘Mama, I’m bald,’ he said. ‘They’ll make fun of me.’ ‘What if we get you a toupee?’ ‘Mom, that would make it worse. They’d snatch it off my head and throw it around.’ ‘What about a hat?’ ‘Mom!’

“It’s not hard to picture the kid’s dejection. He got more depressed the farther they drove from the doctor’s because the next day he was going to have to wake up and, for the first time, his very worst fears were going to come true. He was going to be a fifteen-year-old walking onto a high school campus very bald. He knew he’d be made fun of by every student at the school.

“‘I wonder if I should just take the rest of the year off and have them send me homework,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to see anybody. I don’t want to see my friends. I don’t want to spend the rest of the year embarrassed.’

“The mom pulled into the driveway. They walked together into the dark house and she turned on the light. Seventy people screamed, ‘Surprise!’

“Seventy of his friends from school were in his living room— and every guy had shaved his head.”

Ray goes on, “There is power, encouragement, and freedom from anxiety in friendship. Things just go better when you don’t do life alone. Build a base of support. Not only will you be better, but you’ll feel better.”

He then says, “Friendships are not found— they’re built. Working with people for thirty years, I’ve talked to so many people who say they can’t find friends. There is no ‘tree of friends’ somewhere that you need to find. Today would be a great day to start doing something to build some friendships. You and they will be glad you did.”

So, who of your friends is going through a tough time?