Special days are usually accompanied by long lasting traditions. For instance, we Americans associate flowers and candy with Valentine’s Day, fireworks with the Fourth of July and turkey with Thanksgiving. Hi, I’m Tom Ellsworth from Sherwood Oaks Christian Church with a minute message.
In Denmark there is the longstanding custom that marks the beginning of each New Year. During the preceding twelve months, Danish families save up all their chipped, cracked and unusable dishes. Then on New Year’s Eve the discarded dishes are broken on a friend’s doorstep. The more ceramic shards you find on your front porch, the more friends you have.
I think I’m glad that’s not our custom here – sounds like a lot of cleanup work. But if this was your custom, imagine waking up and finding no broken dishes at all. The gift of friendship is priceless. In this first month of 2016, let me suggest that we commit this year to being a better friend. The word friend or friendship appears more than 170 times in God’s Word; and in Proverbs we are reminded that a friend loves at all times. Don’t wait for a shattered dinner plate to show up on your porch to let a friend know how much you care.