Red Plate Day

By Cheri Cowell –

“It’s a Red Plate Day, Grandma!” I’d exclaim on the phone to my grandmother.

“Oh, tell me all about it,” she would say as she listened with the enthusiasm only a grandmother can show. Sometimes the story was about an award I received at school, a new skill I mastered, or something that might have seemed insignificant to anyone else but my grandma and me. “OK,” she would say, “I’m getting out my Red Plate for dinner tonight and you get yours; together we will celebrate your Red Plate Day.” The red plate was our take on the Red Letter Day tradition that began when churches marked the holy days on their calendars with red ink.

God has a lot to say about making people feel special. In this verse, Paul is teaching that because we are Christ’s representatives in the world, we should reject all that corrupts and strive to treat others as God treats us. Paul outlines six concrete ways that Christians “put off” their old lives and “put on” life in Christ, and how we use our speech can make someone feel special…like they are having a Red Plate Day.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV).

PRAYER: Thank You, God for the love You show through the encouraging people You’ve placed in my life. Help me to be more like You in how I treat others—help me use my words to lift up those who are down and encourage those who are discouraged.