A Hallmark Recovery
“Dear friends, since God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:11 (NIV)
Twenty years ago, our daughter Meredith was in the middle of college finals when we received two Christmas cards addressed to her at our home. Pulling the cards from the mailbox, I saw two unfamiliar names with return addresses in Japan. Putting the two cards on Meredith’s bedroom dresser, I wondered who we knew that lived there.
Meredith came home for Christmas break a few days later and opened her cards. It turned out that the Hallmark Christmas cards were from her two friendship partners in Tuscaloosa. Meredith hadn’t told us, but she had volunteered to befriend two Japanese international college students. During the fall semester, the three young women had spent some time together by making occasional trips to Wal-Mart, eating lunch, and practicing English vocabulary.
Meredith laughed as she came into the kitchen holding the two Hallmark cards. She explained that her Japanese friends didn’t really celebrate Christmas in Japan. They had, however, asked some other students how Americans wish each other a “Happy Christmas!” The consensus answer was “Christmas cards.” Good old American advertising took over from there when the young women saw several Hallmark ads all proclaiming the same message, “When you care enough to send the very best!”
That’s the best way to describe the last three weeks following my breast cancer surgery and recovery. People have cared enough to give us their very best. Bruce and I have been showered with delicious meals; generous gift cards; beautiful flowers; a wide array of books; thoughtful Get-Well cards; effective prayers; encouraging visits; and numerous breast cancer survivor testimonies. One thoughtful and creative friend even sent four books of postage stamps to help with thank you notes! Every act of kindness has proclaimed the same message, “You are loved!”
I met with both my medical and radiation oncologists last week. Our plan is for me to continue recovering from my surgery until February 20 when I’ll begin sixteen outpatient radiation treatments. In the meantime, I’m free to do whatever I feel like doing as long as I rest when I need to and don’t lift anything over five pounds.
That means that I’ve been able to attend one of Caroline’s dance programs and help arrange some flowers at church. I will also be leading a Rooted in God’s Word workshop for Briarwood’s women’s retreat this weekend. If ever there was a year when I needed to be rooted and grounded in God’s Word, it was 2022!
I’ll have more to say on that in next week’s post, but for now, please know how very grateful Bruce and I are for every prayer, meal, and act of kindness. You haven’t just fed our bodies; you have fed our souls!
Caring enough to send your very best isn’t a concept invented by the Hallmark Corporation. God cared enough to send His very best when he sent his Son Jesus to die a sinner’s death in our place on the cross.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV) The Apostle John echoes Paul’s thoughts and says, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love.” (i John 4:9-10 NIV)
God cared enough to send his very best! Thank you to all of you who have done the same!