A Hug in a Box (or Better than FREE Vegan Chocolate)

Yesterday I got an email from Chris saying that we had received a package sent via USPS and it was waiting with our doorman. (Our building has this new system in place which allows residents to receive emails when they have a delivery or dry-cleaning at the front desk. Super fancy. There is also a large TV screen in place when you walk in the lobby that displays which apartment units have packages/ laundry to pick-up. And you sign on a touch pad device- nice.) Anyway, when Chris got this alert yesterday at work and emailed me I immediately thought, "Yes, it must be my free vegan chocolate I won almost eight weeks ago. It's finally here!"

But, when we got home last night around 9:30 after choir rehearsal I was shocked to find a box from my BFF in Texas. Inside she had baked a hug just for me. She had sent a hug in a box across the country and included this poem by Shel Silverstein who is best known for his books A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends, or at least that is how I know him best! My friend baked me cookies and somehow drew this very recognizable illustration on the cookie! I can't even draw a decent flower on a sheet of paper, much less on something edible and have it look this good. My friend is so talented and I'm thankful for her thoughtfulness.

After writing the poem out for me she wrote, "you don't have to eat these. They are not vegan, or sugar-free and I think they're kind of burnt." Are you kidding me, NOT eat pretty cookies- that's just insane. I had two for supper at 9:30 last night and they were possibly the best thing I'd tasted all day long; homemade sugar cookies, Mmmm.

My friends, co-workers, and now my own mother are concerned about my stress. My "wound up" state, the fact that I'm always on to the next thing on my To Do list. (which I do keep color coded in my datebook with special pens/ finetip Sharpies and highlighters)
Anyway, I've been ministered to lately alot by the song Free by Shawn McDondald.

"I feel like my heart is being beat, down into the ground. And in You I'm longing for some peace to be found. I feel like the weight of the world is crashing down on me & somehow I just don't believe this is how it is supposed to be.

I want to be Free. Free to run and free to sing. Free to live and love and free to be me."

I love these lyrics. I have listened to this song repeatedly on my iPhone, this and the Awakening by Sara Groves

"I know that I'm not perfect, but compare me to most. In a world of hurt and a world of anger I think I'm holding my own...
I've known now for quite awhile that I'm not whole, I've remembered the body and the mind, but I've dissected my soul."

AND, I don't think it's coincidence that THIS happens to be the song that I'm leading out on during worship this coming Sunday:

I have seen with my own eyes
Your faithfulness O God
So I refuse to believe
The lies that war against my soul
You rescued me from all my fears
And loosed the chains of wasted years (from: Savior)

So, where am I going with this? Well, It just amazes me how God has such BIG plans and things are not happenstance and don't just fall into place. I realize that Satan may just have his hand on my head trying to squash me down, my spine collapsing and squishing like an accordion.

But I know Jesus holds me in his hand. I know I am truly free when I live in the confience and grace that His love provides. Knowing it and living like it's real can be two seperate things. Sometimes you find a Bible verse or a song or a hug in the shape of a sugar cookie that put things in perspective- and sometimes all in one day.