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Love is worth the price of a postage stamp
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"They shall know we are Christians by our love."
The summer is a real time of birthday celebrations for my family, and while we may not always have the money to spend on gifts we seem to have developed a competition for selecting the funniest birthday card. There's always a round of laughter, even among extended family members and friends, when the cards get past around the table.
But one of the funniest memories I have regarding birthday cards is when my brother-in-law, slightly depressed at another year past, announced dejectedly during his surprise party that the only birthday cards he had received that year were from his mother-in-law, his dentist and P.C. Richards.
"At least," he quipped, "that one came with an offer to buy anything in the store with no interest for one year."
I thought to myself, "That's better than what I would get, given my credit history, unless it was a card asking me to shop somewhere else or one with my 25th request for payment from my dentist. Actually, until recently one of the last cards I had received was from a collection agency for a hospital bill, and I loved their direct approach. Across the front of the card, in big red letters, were the words, "You have exhausted our patience!" Considering the stay I had had there, I wanted to write back and ask if they meant to write "patients." But this year things changed in the card department. Every few weeks, without fail, I received, and still do, a beautiful spiritual card from a friend whom I rarely see but who means a lot to me. She knows I have been struggling, with physical illness and emotional stress, and because we cannot see each other often she has made it a point to send her love through these cards. They have never failed to do just that - bring her love into my life. In spite of her own struggles with serious illness and her own hectic schedule, which makes mine look like a stroll in the park, she has never failed to send me a card and her cards have always raised my spirits, made me laugh, stopped my tears or gave me hope.
This friend has been, and remains, an inspiration to me, an example of faithfulness and sacrificial love, a witness to the joy and peace possible when we live our lives with faith in Christ.
And so, to this wonderful, very special friend I would like to send this "card" and say, 'I love you, too, Pat. I'm so very glad God made us friends."
____________________________________
Mary Morrell is the Associate Director of the Office of Religious Education for the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ, and the mother of six sons. She is also the author of Angels in High Top Sneakers from Loyola Press; Things My Father Taught Me, a bi-weekly column that appears in several Catholic newspapers, I'll Walk With God, a monthly newsletter published by the Metuchen Diocesan Office of Religious Education, and a writer for Real Faith TV, produced by the Diocese of Trenton, Office of Communication.
Contact
Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org
NJ, US
Mary Morrell - associate director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562-1990
mmorrell@diometuchen.org
Keywords
Love
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