Reminders

It was Tuesday that I took Mary to the airport for a 19-day journey to Europe.  After an overnight flight, she connected with our daughter, Alli, at Heathrow Airport in London, at the conclusion of Alli’s 12-week semester of college study in Tanzania.

Once I returned to our house, I began my bachelor experience. At 10:30 PM I pulled back the covers of our bed, there, taped to the sheet was a card from Mary. It was expertly crafted by hand, and expressed in tender terms the love and commitment that Mary has for me. It was ointment on a lonely heart.

The next morning it was time to make a smaller than usual pot of coffee, and as I reached for the filters inside a kitchen cabinet, I found a note, taped to the box. Once again, a reminder of Mary’s love. Her own words… her own hands, confirming what I believed.

Over the past three days, it’s been like an Easter egg hunt. Except I have not been hunting at all. Messages of love, commitment, support and care show up in the spots where I live. Taped to the bottom of a remote control. Perfectly placed in the center of the seat I typically occupy at the kitchen table. On top of the second pair of underwear in my closet. On the register page of the checkbook. On the shower door. On a plate of leftover calzones that we had originally shared last Sunday.

Right where I lived… reminders, reflections and words of renewal.

Mary could have typed all of the words, put them on a page or two and dropped them on the kitchen counter… but she knew that the words would impact me more directly, when I experienced them where I lived. And so I’ve left them… as close to where I found them as possible, because they come alive in context; and I bask in what they communicate… every time I see them.

The author of the book of Hebrews understood this. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit these words were written:

“The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piecing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Because the Word of God lives where we live. It applies to what we experience. It moves what we can’t budge. It assures when and where we doubt. It embraces where we feel alone. It convicts when we disobey. God’s Word is where we are. His truth lives in our reality. Inspired at its creation, applied in real-time by His Spirit.

I’m loved and cared for… at every turn, in every way.

Do you suppose Mary taped a really special note to the vacuum or a dust rag? Oh, the things to look forward to on day 18!

God loves you!