Sent God-mail lately?

Early in my writing career, before the internet, old-fashioned mail connected me to the publishing industry. Yes, I once put manuscripts to editors in a box like this, flipped up the flag, and waited.  If they returned as “rejected,” I also hoped they wouldn’t have coffee stains, meaning tedious retyping. A common writer’s joke concerned how many cobwebs would adorn a mailbox before an overworked editor responded.  Now, my computer translates keystrokes to words, corrects my spelling, and zips a submission in seconds to a publishing house. What a world!

Recently, picking up the usual bills and flyers, I realized how busy my local spiders had been. A what-if occurred to me. What if, instead of receiving this type of mail, I was charged with sending love notes to God? What would I say? Right away, this phrase came to mind: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  I found it at the beginning of Psalm 107, and behold: it’s a chorus that threads throughout the psalm.

This psalm opens “Book V” of the Psalms, and it’s believed to include those collected after the Jews returned to their land.  Bible scholars say this psalm specifically mentions hurting and at-risk populations: refugees (4-7), prisoners (10-16), the sick (19-22), and victims (seamen, 23-32). These people didn’t have the soft life of a roof over their heads, a grocery store down the road, and decent medical care. Life for them was tough. Yet when they cried out to God, He heard them.

The last image, of seamen in a horrific storm (vv. 23-30) is terrifying, something like a Moby Dick drama or worst. Yet, when life crashes in around us, there couldn’t be a better metaphor.  I have several friends on the wild waves of serious illness.  They’re waiting for that time when they’ll be guided to a haven (v. 30), when they can “give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”

 The key here is “his unfailing love.” No matter what trial assaults us, God’s unfailing love is there. Who of us hasn’t felt tossed around violently by life’s cruel storms? Yet, through it all is God’s unfailing love.

What does this have to do with a cobwebbed mailbox?  Maybe that there ought to be “thank you” notes to God going out regularly-- a box full of praises for God’s unfailibng love, headed to heaven via journaling, prayer, or public testimony.  I know I could improve on that area of my spiritual life! “Whoever is wise,” ends the psalm (v. 43), “let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.”

Speaking of thanksgivings....

Oh, the awe of holding a newborn!  James, my son’s third son and our fourth grandchild, made his entrance a week ago.  Yes, it’s now “my three sons” at their household—bringing a smile to us “oldies” who remember the popular sit-com (1960-72) by that name featuring a fictional widower (starring Fred MacMurray) and three sons.  I always liked the perky housekeeper hired to keep things going! So, James, welcome as you grow up with brothers just 2 ½ and 4 years older.  I pray that as you grow up, you will embrace your heritage of faith.  “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13 NIV).