There are love letters that no post office can bring us, love letters from God. Letters He writes on rocks and leaves, whispers in stories and songs, touches through in little daily events in our lives. Letters like this amazing image (best seen close up by pressing) from Terry over at Canadian Blogger above. Love letters from God.

And the thing is, we can miss them. My life is completely different I have noticed when I am reading my "love letters" and when I'm not. This image above brought it all back. It was taken in Canada and seeing it tonight brought back to me a period of time when I was there one summer. I was staying in a little house by a river and every single day I would meet up with this little dog I just adored and we would go for our walk by the water. And every single day there was a love letter from God. A rock in the shape of something special, a special feather or leaf, a stirring sighting of an eagle or osprey or sparrow or frog, coming upon bear tracks, finding a tender cub's fur, a touching sunrise or sunset, sounds that draw, the shooting up of a flower, the fall of a leaf, the sun's patterns on the water, the dew on the grass, the feel of the sand under my feet and sun upon me, something in the clouds, something someone said or did that day, something that happened ... simply whatever little event or feeling that moved something, whether in nature or at home, asleep or awake, through whatever avenue or "coincidence" He chose. God writes in our life.

And so after I came back from that trip, I still carry the momentos, the most special love letters from it, but I've found that as time went on I stopped looking for those love letters each day now. Its kind of like forgetting to check the mail. I'm sure God is still sending those letters...I've just been forgetting to look. And when I dont look for and find those little "letters" things spiral down. I need them, those little touches and reminders each day that simply and tangibly tell me He is HERE.

So I've just been thinking a lot about this, looking around me tonight. This room that Ill be moved from soon, my papers still awaiting completing and sorting in my wicker basket, my stack of recipes, even all my paraphenalia about for healing my wound and calming the injury and such. Its all a part of my present right now. A present I tend to skip past. Each morning I wake my mind is worrying about things, worried about the surgury (which I keep delaying), about money, about moving (which I delyed too till end of this month), worried about so many things. And then I spend so much time at the computer, entering other worlds in a sense, which can lead to ignoring my own. So tonight Ive been looking more at my own, exactly as it is, rather than just thinking about the future so much. I long to start "checking the mail" again each day somehow. I miss the love letters so much, and we can only see them when we are present in our simple little day to day lives, IN them, not zooming by, not always thinking of the future, just IN them.

So I was inspired by Terry's image today, and also her post:

"This Saturday, I decided to park the little red car and take a walk around the palace grounds.

There was only a remnant of autumn left.
A few shivering leaves were clinging with all their strength to the tree branches..."

She was in this moment of her day, not zooming by. And in her lovely image above came a love letter from God.

And Terry hasnt been the only one inspiring in this vien today, so also has Christine from The Sacred Art of Living (sorry to qoute you again Christine, its your fault for being so darn quotable). From her post:

"In a culture of mobility and restlessness, I can so easily pick up and move when things get uncomfortable or brighter horizons beckon. This happens with relationships as well as places. Even in the absence of the option to physically move, there are many ways for me to feed my desire for distraction, whether it is television or internet or other entertainment. Loving the place where I find myself might mean the physical location, but for me also refers to the emotional place whether grief, rawness, or anger. It is the foundation for relationship, saying I will continue to be here and work through this with you.”

Being present, even in the pain. There truly is something healing about this. And vital...for it is then that we need those love letters from God most of all, those letters we need to be present to find.

So everyone, my guess is that if you look today, "You've Got Mail" : )

(Image by Terry from Canadian Blogger)