Dear Friend...Signed With Love And Care

We have all put up our new calendars. They say 2016 across the top. We are now in the sixth day of this beautiful new year we have been given by God.

We have had six weeks of "Holiday Season". Most of us have enjoyed family gatherings around the table. We have enjoyed hearing the sounds of laughter and joy. Some have held new little grandchildren in their arms or pulled a sled full of giggling children through the snow. Some have shared a drink of hot chocolate before a warm fireplace, or gathered in the living room to watch eager children open up gifts, or you have held your breath as your sweetheart opens the gift you got special for her. Will she like it?

Yes, in this land of plenty, the holiday season is a special time for most, but this year, deep in my heart and mind, lived some other scenes.Scenes that hold special friends. As these "scenes" unfold in my mind...my heart fills completely full of compassion. In these "scenes" I cannot see a face. I have no idea who you are. I have no idea where you live. I have never met you, nor do I know your name. To me those things are not important. What is important is that wherever you are, I want you to know you have a friend. I want you to know someone has thought about you and deeply cares. I want you to know that someone has carried you in their heart and thoughts. So I want to write you a letter....

To my special friends...wherever you are,

A few months ago, my husband and I ran out of gas. For the first time in our lives, we had to call the highway patrol for help.

A young man answered the call. My husband got into his car and they drove away, leaving me sitting there waiting. Before that young man left, he turned to me and kindly said, "Ma'am while we are going after gas, I want you to lock your doors and don't unlock them for anyone. We will be back soon." With that they were gone.

Later I asked my husband what it was like there in that patrol car that day? He started to explain the inside of the car, but I stopped him and asked, "No, I mean what was that young man like? Was he married? Did he have a little girl or boy? Did he have someone who sent him out the door every morning and prayed that he would come home safely to them every night?"

I believe it was on Christmas Eve, I had a facebook post from a young man. He was standing beside his patrol car. Above the photo he simply wrote "Merry Christmas".  On New Years Day, he once again put his picture and above that picture he wrote, "Happy New Years, Stay safe."

I can not get these kind, concerned young men, and others just like them, out of my mind this holiday season. I pray that you are still safe. That you still can go home to your families. I hope you could somehow, spend at least part of this holiday season in the warmth of your family circle.

Another "scene" that opens in my mind and heart is on a snow covered porch of a home. This same highway patrol stands there and slowly reaches up and pushes the door bell. He hears its ring from somewhere inside that home and then footsteps, as someone walks to the door. His poor heart is heavy with the sad news waiting on his tongue. His heart beats fast as the door opens and there standing in front of him is a mother or dad. How can he tell them? Do they know how hard this is for this young officer? Do they know the pain in his heart?

Now my heart flips over to that mother, dad, sweetheart, standing there at the door. Oh the pain they must feel in their heart. The sick feeling that comes from deep in the soul. The deep emptiness of knowing. I have no words to express the many feelings that would run through your mind, your soul as you stood there at that open door. I wouldn't know because I haven't experienced it, but my heart cares, my heart feels your pain in the only way it can.

In my mind there is another "scene". I am in the home somewhere. In this home, the unbelievable is just beginning. Hospice has been called. You know but you don't want to accept. You know but you don't want to think about cutting human ties. This decision is so hard. Every morning you wake up you remember, you know. Hour upon hour you sit beside the bed, loving, caring, crying. Once again I can't feel like you feel. I can't understand your pain, but do you know I pray that somehow you will get the peace to keep you? Do you know I want to be beside you and hold your hand? I want to cry with you.

There is one more "scene" that is in my mind and heart. This one is a bit difficult to write about. It's a bit difficult because you don't hear much about it. I guess sometimes it is a little hard to understand, but I must say it's real and it is a "scene" that I have the deepest feeling for. My heart goes out to these individuals, and to their families.

Sometimes...something happens and life doesn't mean anything anymore. Hope seems to be gone. Life becomes too bitter, too hard. Sometimes something goes wrong with the body. The sun stops shining in their world.

I don't know where you are. I don't know if you will ever read this letter, or if someday I may pass you on the street. I don't know these things, but I do know that every individual I meet or pass, I will give my warmest smile. I will lift my hand and wave at you. I will tell you "Hello".  As I do this, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you see in that smile...hear in that hello, a personal message right into your heart, from mine.

A message that tells you, "I love you." A message that says, "I truly care". A message that encourages you to go outside on a spring morning and lift your face into the sunshine and feel the breeze in your hair. A message that encourages you to watch every sunrise and sunset. A message that encourages you to lay quietly on the warm grass and gaze up into the heavens, seeing the millions of stars sparkling down at you, or set up against a tree and watch the yellow moon rise up into the heavens and hear the call of the coyote off in the distance. I hope you see in my smile a message that says, "You mean something, you're important, you're good." I hope you see in my smile a hand that will hold yours, a ear that will listen, and an arm that will hold you close.

Some of you will wonder why these "scenes" come to mind in a time of "holiday joy." Sometimes I wonder this myself. But I am glad. I'm glad because it reminds me that when so many of us are enjoying happiness, there is someone, somewhere who needs our love, our care, and our compassion.

Good bye my special friend...wherever you are. I will forever be your friend. I will always carry you deep in my heart.

Next week will start the rest of  "Little by Little....Side by Side   Chapter 25  Faith Carried Us Through"