In a Charlie Brown cartoon, Charlie is eating a
peanut-butter- and-jelly sandwich, and as he eats he
notices his hands
and becomes enamored with them. He holds them up and
starts looking
up at them, then muses: "I like my hands. They are
fascinating. They
really are. I have nice hands. They have a lot of
character. Do you
realize that these two little hands may someday
accomplish greater
things? These hands may someday do marvelous
works...miracles. They
may build mighty bridges, or heal the sick, or hit
home runs, or
write soul-stirring novels..." Lucy finally interrupts
this grandiose
musing and puts it in perspective. "Charlie, your
hands have jelly on
them."

We need friends like that too -- friends who don't
worship at our
altar. We're only human, not gods.

If you only have friends who think you're wonderful,
they aren't
friends. They're admirers. And admirers won't hang
around long once
they see the not-so-wonderful sides of your humanity.
Lucy may
sometimes seem to Charlie Brown as the bane of his
existence, but
she'll always shoot straight with him, and he --as
well as you and I
-- need that.