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.