Mom has been gone a little over a year now, and I recently found some love notes she had written!
Today makes that discovery a little more special.
My mom and dad were married 69 years ago today. Normally, this time of year, I find myself scratching my head, trying to remember whether their anniversary was the 27th or the 29th.
Those love notes will most likely help me remember from now on that it’s the 27th!
While rearranging the family room and cleaning out some drawers, I found a few of Mom’s old journals and some notebooks she had written in.
Inside one of the journals was a stack of random papers covered in scribbles. When I took a closer look, I realized they were a history of Mom and Dad’s life together.
She had written down when they got married, every place they had lived, the jobs Dad had held, each time they moved, and a whole bunch of other notes.
She also recorded major life-changing events, like her dad losing both legs in a mining accident and how the community supported and cared for their family afterward.
She wrote about births, deaths, and weddings.
She wrote about each of her children—when we were born, what we looked like, and how we grew, all the way into adulthood.
What a treasure!
But these notes have given me something else, too. A little clarity about a situation Mom and I had during the last year of her life.
Throughout that year, she had been anxious because she thought I had thrown away some of her “stuff.” Although she was worried about it, she wouldn’t tell me exactly what the stuff was.
I was pretty certain I hadn’t thrown away anything that might be important to her. But now I believe these papers may have been the “stuff” she was fretting over.
Having kept journals since I was very young, I can completely understand why she was troubled.
These things were important enough to her that she took the time to write them down. Places, people, and events. Pieces of her life she didn’t want to be forgotten.
No, Mom, I did not throw them away.
And I consider them treasured love notes.
God gave us more than a love note. He gave us a whole, big-ole love letter—His Word.
It’s a letter He intended for us to keep close to our hearts and never forget.
He also wants us to pass along the truths we learn from it to those around us and those who come after us.
Deuteronomy 6 reminds us of the importance of loving God, keeping His commandments in our hearts, and teaching them to our children. God’s Word isn’t meant to be something we simply read and put away. It’s meant to shape how we live every day.
“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” — Deuteronomy 6:5–7 (KJV)
This love letter, spanning generations, tells us about beginnings, the importance of family, God’s instructions for living, and the history of His people. It also tells us of promises fulfilled and promises yet to come.
God tells us who He is, what He has promised, and how He wants us to live. And He makes it clear that we are to pass His truth along to those who come after us.
I don’t know, but maybe that was what Mom, in her own way, was trying to tell us, too.
Her journals and random notes cover nearly seventy years of life. I can’t wait to sit down and read them thoroughly. I’m hoping to discover things I didn’t know and perhaps even find some guidance to help me navigate this life.
It is my desire, through my own journals and this blog, to leave something behind that someone might one day consider a love note.
Something worth keeping.
Something worth remembering.
Something that might help someone who comes after me.
If you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle, consider taking the time to write down the major signposts and special events of your life. Record the people, the places, the lessons, and the moments you don’t want forgotten.
You don’t have to write a book. You don’t have to make it fancy.
Just take the time.
Write that love note!
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What is your relationship to the all-knowing God of the universe? Do you know the peace that can come only from an intimate relationship with Jesus? You can know Him. Jesus Christ—God’s Son, born into human flesh, sinless, crucified and giving His life freely, buried, arisen on the third day—will come into your life and change the outcome of your eternity. You just have to be willing to believe and accept His truth. In addition, here is an excellent page that can give you additional information on peace with God: PeaceWithGod.net.
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