The next sweetest things are unexpected thank you notes, usually on post-it notes they found by the phone, written quickly by adult children and grand-children who stayed at the house for a visit and now are leaving. Again, lots of X's and O's.
But of course there's also nothing sweeter than photos received each year at Christmas time from adult children, relatives, and friends. Last year's infants are walking, toddlers' legs have grown twice as long, and parents and grand-parents have sprouted some gray hairs. And there are always the hand-written notes and hugs and kisses and love at the bottom.
Now you know what the front of my refrigerator looks like! Slightly yellowing grand-children's home-made greeting cards, adult kids' and grand-kids' hastily scribbled thanks-for-the -visit post-its, Christmas card photos, some several years old, and even some grand-kids' small school photos, and friends' wedding announcements -- all are attached to my frig with various kinds of magnets and some scotch tape.
I've seen other folks' refrigerators, and they look like mine - magnets for tangible memories, which are gifts and signs of the most important people in our lives' Unfailing Love for us. We've kept them because of our Unfailing Love for them. Love is so priceless that we can't and won't let our loved ones go.
I guess God thinks we're so priceless that He can't and won't let us go. He's constantly sending us signs and gifts of His Unfailing Love for us. If our souls are tuned to Him, we can see and hear daily miracles that tell us we are personally loved by an endlessly inventive God.
Sometimes some part of my life may be in such a tangle that I throw up my hands in despair and say to God "Here, Lord, please, You handle this. It's beyond me." I try to forget about the mess because, after all, I've stopped trying to control things and I've given it to God. Time passes. Suddenly I think about the tangle - and somehow God has worked it all out. Praise God! He has rescued me and mine once again. Unfailing Love.
Or sometimes I don't know how I'm going to get everything done on a particular day because I can't be in two places at once. Suddenly, miraculously, someone cancels a meeting or get-together and my schedule becomes manageable. God's Unfailing Love.
Or I'm crushed by disappointment or grief, teetering on the brink of despair, and a card unexpectedly arrives in the mail, or I receive an uplifting email or Facebook message, or a friend calls. A friend somehow has known what I need and has acted in love. I also believe that each loving person in our life is a gift-wrapped package sent Special Delivery by God. Unfailing Love.
I can't place all of God's loving messages to me and actions for me on my refrigerator because there wouldn't be room. But some things are so priceless that you can't let them go. Each sweet message, action, gift, and memory is magnetized to my soul by the Holy Spirit, Who has promised to remind us of all that God has taught us and done for us.
Whenever I begin to doubt God's Loving Presence in my life, I reach into my soul's depths and retrieve a special memory, a special gift, a perfect message. My heart begins to glow because each of these daily miracles is a tangible sign that I am not alone and abandoned, ever. And my trust in my Ever-faithful God is renewed because His Ways are unchanging. God is the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He will always love you and me with sweet, Unfailing Love!