[ the one you've gotta read ]

Folks, I don’t have time to write too much, but I just wanted to say hey.  It’s the weekend.  YAY!  I’ve been wearing my retainer a lot [yeah, the one i got in 7th grade when my braces came off]…because i stopped wearing it for about a year and my teeth have shifted.   I just want straight teeth back for the wedding!  And white ones, for that matter, but that may take more time [and many crest whitestrips....with all the coffee I drink].   So in my oh-so-suave ultra appeal, I am making the fashion statement of the century with plastic and metal splattered all across my face.  You know you like it.

 So, to my story.  Yes, there’s always a story.  I was taking blitzen out the other morning, and I saw what I thought was a note slid under the wiper blade of my car.  I got so excited because I haven’t had that happen to me in a long, long time!!!  In my giddy sprint to the car, it soon became evident that this “note” was just a deep red and orange autumn leaf, freshly fallen in the right spot.   “Dangit” was my response.  So, Blitzen and I walk away and as I shiver and bounce around trying to stay warm [while I shout encouragement for my dog to pick up the pace with his important business]…I got to thinking. 

There was a note left on my car.  And it wasn’t just a note.  It was a love note.  An uber-ridiculously-mind-blowing and brilliantly mastered love note.  From my wooer.  My ultimate wooer; the one who never stops pursuing me, never stops romancing me, and loves me beyond anything I can compare.  He knows how much I love fall…seeing the colors change, the holidays, the smell of all my favorite seasonal treats, etc…and He sent me a reminder via a little notecard to say “Don’t forget that I’m giving you all of this because I love you; I could give you a lifeless, colorless, and miserable place to live….but instead I’ve chosen to show you my majesty by giving you fall [and all the other little things in life you take for granted].”

Wow.  So often when things aren’t exactly my way, I think this is a miserable place to live anyhow.  But just think of how much worse it could be.  I mean, we live Canaan.  The promised land.  The land flowing with milk and honey and high-speed internet access.  All of our needs are met, and most luxuries as well…luxuries that others in the world couldn’t even imagine.  Yeah, this world’s got it’s downfalls; if it didn’t, it’d be called heaven–but as far as how it could be, He gave it to us pretty darn good.  I’m thankful for that. 

And I’m thankful for my love note.

Think through your day today and ask yourself where your love note was sitting.  Was it an email with a job offer in it that you’ve been praying for?  Was it in passing a dog in the park who brightened your day with a slobbery kiss on your hand?  Or was it maybe written on a tissue that your best friend gave you in your time of tears and heartache?  Let me know–I want to hear about it.