A SHELTERING TREE

When we think about the lives of the saints, we can easily forget that they were people just like us--with all the same struggles, temptations, joys, and sorrows we experience in life. They were not born saints, they became saints. And in the course of their journeys through life, other people helped them become the people that God wanted them to be. A Sheltering Tree offers stories of faith, fidelity, and friendship from both Christian and non-Christian writers that explore the importance of friendship to psychological and spiritual development. These stories show how friends became special graces, special gifts given to us by the Lord to help us grow in holiness. Contemporary stories of ordinary people illustrate fifteen lessons about friendship in our own time to help us understand the grace of friendship in our lives. These stories are a source of encouragement and inspiration for each of us on our personal journeys, leading us closer to each other and to the Lord who has called each of us his friend. A Sheltering Tree provides remarkably rich insights into friendship and love, beginning with the writings of both saints and classical authors. The subsequent real-life stories are as shining jewels of human friendship, love, joy, sadness, and mystery, shared with the author as psychotherapist and friend. The lessons he derives are universal. This deceptively short volume provides a wealth of clearly accessible truths into our humanity and its deepest callings. --Ron Bashian MD, former pediatrician, Arlington, VA A thoughtful book on friendship and love. Peter is a gifted writer who unites themes of friendship, presenting stories of people whose lives were animated by a profound awareness of the divine presence in all. Friends, loving God and each other, demonstrate that human life is the arena where the divine is made visible. The fifteen lessons are especially powerful, emphasizing our oneness. Friends help us grow into wisdom and to practice loving kindness