Proverbs 18:24 – The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (AMP)

It's been proven that recycling can go a long way towards saving the environment. What may not be as well known is that recycling can also provide a person with a treasure, of sorts. For fourteen of the last twenty-seven years I've received a card from my former neighbour. Why not every year? Years ago, we agreed to the plan of sending a card to one another every other year. One might argue that sending a card to one another every other year is hardly a big saving and not much of a recycling project, and one would be right, but the fact is we have not only saved money — we have created a treasure. In 1977, our neighbours sent my husband and me a card for our anniversary. The cover depicted a rather happy-faced Scotsman wearing a giant-sized tartan tam. At first, we thought this bore some reflection on my husband's Scottish heritage, but instead it was a "McTavish's Perennial Greeting Card" designed to be sent back and forth, year after year.

This week the card arrived again, and as I looked over all the messages and greetings we have sent to one another over the years, I was reminded of the treasure I have in true friendship. It isn't always the biggest card that has meant the most. It has been the special messages I've received from friends and family members who have been there to share my good times and my bad. Furthermore, my neighbour's card doesn't contain the most important messages of love and friendship I have received. The words I'm thinking about have been sent to all of us not once every year or every other year but every day. Day after day as we open the Bible and read God's Word, we are reassured of His caring, His friendship, and His love. Those of us who read these words have discovered a treasure!

Prayer: God, today as we read Your Word, remind us that You are our faithful friend. Amen.

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About the author:

Elaine Ingalls Hogg <authorhogg@yahoo.ca>
Smiths Creek, New Brunswick, Canada
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