Love letters, Winks, Blessings, Eyes meeting across a crowded room–Tokens of love

A couple of months ago, I decided that I wanted to start growing succulents.  I had been watching lots of YouTube videos and figured that a succulent would be hard for me to kill.  Unlike my mother and sister, I do not have a green thumb.  There are two plant nurseries within fifteen miles of my home, so I decided to check out the farthest one first and then stop by the closer one on my way home if I could not find a plant that I liked at the first one.  I knew that I could probably only afford one or two plants, but it was a start.  When I reached the small town where the first nursery was located, a small disaster struck.  The low tire light came on, so I had to abort my plans.  I was close to the shop where I had bought the tires, so I stopped there, but I was told that it would be hours before they could fit me in.  To make my long story shorter, the nice man at the shop filled my tire with air, and I prayed for faith in God’s care during the ten long minutes it took to reach home as I watched the tire pressure numbers descending lower and lower with every mile.  Needless to say, that was a very disappointing day for me between the tire problems and having no succulents to show for my journey.  However, something amazing happened that turned my disappointment to joy.  Within 24 hours, I had seven different succulents growing in pots in my home, and I had paid nothing for any of them.  On the first day, I saw only problems and empty pots; on the second day, my pots were overflowing.  How did this happen?  Some might look at my experience and say it was because of the kindness of people who heard my story and offered starts from their own succulents.  However, I know that the true answer was that I was receiving tokens of God’s love.

There are many times in our lives when we receive small blessings from God that restore and refresh our lives.  Frequently, those blessings are actually small miracles that are only apparent to God and us.  Other people looking at the situation would find a rational way to explain the supernatural aspect of the gift away, but we know that it was a miracle.  One of my favorite preachers, David Asscherick, calls this kind of situation “God winking” at him.  I call it tokens of God’s love from a quote from one of my favorite authors, E.G. White.  “Our plans are not always God’s plans. He may see that it is best for us and for His cause to refuse our very best intentions, as He did in the case of David. But of one thing we may be assured, He will bless and use in the advancement of His cause those who sincerely devote themselves and all they have to His glory. If He sees it best not to grant their desires He will counterbalance the refusal by giving them tokens of His love and entrusting to them another service” (Ellen G. White. The Ministry of Healing (Kindle Location 5355). Ellen G. White Estate, Inc.).  You may have another name for the little blessings that God gives you that you recognize as small miracles tailor-made just for you, but you have experienced this phenomenon if you are a follower of Jesus.  These tokens are like the shared look of love between an old married couple as they stand across a crowded room from each other.  No one else knows that something special has happened, but the two lovebirds know and cherish that look from their special partner.  We experience that same look from God all the time, but there is a problem.  If we are not looking His way, the special little gift that He prepared just for us alone goes by unnoticed and unappreciated.

All my life I have heard people say that I should count my blessings, but I always interpreted this to mean that I should make the best of a bad situation.  I am a silver-lining kind of person.  I see glasses as half-full and positives that come out of negatives.  This is not, however, what I am speaking about when I tell you that you need to notice the tokens of love that God is sending your way.  Instead, I want you to realize that God has special presents that he has giftwrapped just for you alone.  He wants you to know that he loves you specially in a unique manner that can only happen between you and Him.  He wants to share loving looks with you so that you know how much He cherishes you.  These are not conspicuous miracles that the world can gaze upon like a flashing neon sign with I love you written across the night sky.  These are subtle miracles that only you and God recognize, but they are miracles nonetheless, just as much as fire raining down from heaven or a paralyzed man leaping to his feet.  More importantly, they are your miracles, made especially for you.

For many years, I never noticed or appreciated the value of the tokens of love that God showered me with.  My eyes were blind to the significance of my small miracles.  The times when I should not have been blessed and yet I was, the times when I received something special and unexpected for no reason, were just events that I took for granted.  Nowadays, the situation is different.  I have lived through enough disasters and crippling blows that I can clearly see the contrast when I receive a token of love.  I have learned to mark these tokens down in my memory and hold them close to my heart so that when disappointments come, I have a piece of God’s care that I can touch and hug tightly to give me faith in His continuing attention and protection. 

If you are feeling stressed out and anxious because of all the problems in today’s world, I have bad news for you.  The situation is about to become much worse.  Evil is rising and disguising itself in the name of good.  We are in the last days of this world, and there will be times when there seems to be no hope.  How do we maintain faith in such dark days?  Our only path forward will be our trust that God is with us.  I believe that part of that trust is the result of all the tokens of God’s love that we have received and treasured.  In addition, I am convinced that God is not just sharing those looks of love with you to prepare you for the troubles ahead either.  I think that He will continue to share looks of love with you forever just because you are special to Him.  

Remember, even as the world crashes down around us, God will continue to provide us with both large and small miracles to see us through.  Take His love letters to you and reread them when you have empty-pot and flat-tire days and continue to have faith that there are even more tokens of love—little hugs—that God wants to gift to you not just today in our troublous times, but throughout eternity.