Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday April 22, 2010

As a friend and I talked about how our modern culture tends to dominate our preaching schedule, with themes demanded for News Years, Valentine's Day, Ground Hog Day, Presidents Day, MLK Day, St Paddy's Day, Easter Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Grand Parent's Day, Columbus Day, Election Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day along with Birthday's, Graduation Days, Anniversary Day, Homecoming Day, Meatloaf Day, and Recovering Nun Day, we realized we have very few remaining Sunday's to preach the pure word.

Needless to say the people in the gift selling business love all these days for sensitive folks know the value of special gifts for special days given to special people. For years I was nearly out of my mind trying to figure out what to get for the darling wife of my youth for these days, one to celebrate the day her mother reluctantly agreed to our marriage and the day I paid her grandfather $5 for his permission.

Having stated the above, which is by no means complete, you can imagine the joy with which I grabbed this gem by Cindy Lew:

"Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store or under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends."

As I read this statement I realized in horror that I had failed to mention, "Friend Day." I will hear about this.

I admit to being moved by Cindy's word of wisdom as I have written extensively on the subject of friends. Friends often do NOT give gifts that can be wrapped, but gifts that will be cherished in the heart of hearts for many years. The gift of friendship can be given with a hug, a smile, a touch or even, perhaps I should say, especially a look.

A kind word is a gift to you and I experienced encouragement when a friend told me what another friend had said about me to someone who wanted to spread unkind truths about me. Yes, the unkind information was true, but it had been dealt with as much as humans and God's forgiveness can, and my friend spoke a word of kindness about me. I accepted this kind word as a rare bejeweled gift that I treasure to this day and this was many years ago. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18:24:

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with credit

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