Spreading Love

After an extra busy week with work and family before the Labor Day Weekend, my husband and I realized we didn’t have the energy for the long drive to Tennessee and back for a short family “vacation.”

Our six-year-old granddaughter, for whom we provided child care, fretted about it. “Grandma, you have to go! You ARE going!”

The Church Box

When she realized she couldn’t change my mind, she asked if she could have her “Church Box”—a box of old take-homes and teaching aids from when I’d taught the Kindergarten class at church. Many of the cutouts had small magnets on the back. She caught Bible verse “fishes” with her magnet-on-a-strong “fishing pole” for a while until she became fixed with a new inspiration.

“Grandma, I am going to decorate your house for Labor Day. That way you’ll remember me when I’m gone.”

She began hanging objects on doorknobs and cupboards. “Promise you won’t take these down while I’m away.”

I promised.

Spreading Love

Her eyes sparkled as she carefully arranged a group of letters to spell “J-E-S-U-S” on the refrigerator door. “Labor Day,” she announced, “is a special day for spreading love and I’m putting all these things here to remind you that I love you.”

We hugged each other tightly as I assured her I would not forget her for a moment. Then we prayed together that Jesus would keep everybody safe on the highways, the water, and everywhere they went. And that He would keep everybody at home safe, too.

Reminders of Her

Placing us all in God’s care relieved her worries, and she busied herself again with decorating the house “so when you see them, you’ll remember me.”

Precious girl! There isn’t a spot in our house that doesn’t remind us of her—from favorite cups and dishes in the kitchen to toothbrushes and tub toys in the bathroom. Nor is there a spot that does not remind her of us.

From the moment of her mother’s “labor day,” our love has spread for this child. Our thoughts and plans for her are always for her good. We cooperate with her mother to provide the best education and practical training we can.

Reminders of Love

Love is that way. It helps me better understand the love of the heavenly family. They, too, are committed to spreading love—beginning, for us, on the “Labor Week” of Creation. From leaves, flowers, and singing birds to food, shelter, and loving hearts, God has surrounded us with reminders of Himself.

There is no spot on Earth or in the heavens which does not bear His touch. No height nor depth where the wonders of His hand cannot be found. Everywhere—if we look, listen, feel—we will find reminders of Him: in nature, family, and our daily bread.

LOVE has promised time with us, provision for us, joy, and pleasure for us. It is on our calendars: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy … the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God…” (Exodus 20:8).

Finding Love

We should find it in our checkbooks: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. “Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it’” (Malachi 3:10).

We should see His love in everything we call our own: “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1).

In every aspect of life, we can find Him: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

We have the assurance that God will never forget us. The scars in the hands of Jesus on our behalf testify to the validity of God’s promise that “I have graven you upon the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49: 15, 16). His plans for His human children are higher and better than any we could conceive for ourselves “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).

On Monday evening, the phone rang, and an eager voice exclaimed, “Hi, Grandma! We’re back in Ohio. I want to come to your house.”

“Tomorrow morning,” I assured her, “it’s late now. But I’ve been thinking about you. All of your decorations are right where you put them.”

“Oh, good,” she sighed. As if she needed to worry!

May God’s abundant love spread through your heart!

If you liked this, you might also like Grandchildren Are A Delight | With Kids, Love Is In The Little Things

Lois Pecce writes from Ohio.

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