As regards your news—sympathy and congratulations. Sympathy on the wrench of parting and the gap it will leave: congratulations on having done the right thing and made a sacrifice. The chief consolation at such times, I think, is that the result, however unpleasant, must be a kind of relief after the period of saying ‘Shall I really have to—no I won’t—and yet perhaps I’d better.’ There is always some peace in having submitted to the right. Don’t spoil it by worrying about the results, if you can help it. It is not your business to succeed (no one can be sure of that) but to do right: when you have done so, the rest lies with God. . . .
I don’t think you exaggerate at all in your account of how it feels. After all—though our novels now ignore it—friendship is the greatest of worldly goods. Certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life. If I had to give a piece of advice to a young man about a place to live, I think I should say, ‘sacrifice almost everything to live where you can be near your friends.’ I know I am very fortunate in that respect, and you much less so. But even for me, it would make a great difference if you (and one or two others) lived in Oxford.
The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume II: Family Letters 1905-1931. Copyright © 2004 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Among the blessings for which this scribe gives thanks most fervently is the joy of friendship. Just behind faith and family, friends are one of God’s most wonderful gifts. Treasure them, be there for them and pray daily for them. They, along with one’s family are key manifestations of God’s love made physical here below. They, like we, are God’s temples, his children, and should loved and treated as such. Even when they let us down or hurt our feelings, they are among the most precious of God’s treasures.
However, when a friend has become toxic, or our relationship with them has become harmful, and our efforts to return the relationship to a healthy state has failed, then the relationship may have to be severed or suspended. But even in these cases, we should treat them as one’s we love and whom God loves. Many times with patience and love, we can help a toxic friend back to joy and repair broken relationships through loving kindness in our hearts and prayers on our lips.
Always ready,
Z gardener
Good Morning Garden 
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