Linda's Lightline

THE BIG PICTURE --LOVE

By Linda Woodward

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walking till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile..


I was absolutely graced--- graced--- with a gift of God recently, and I pray that I can fit it s glory into my 500 word allotted time slot.

As most of you know, my dad died this year. I am not going to go into it again but if you missed the story I believe you can click on some icon on this website and go back in time. Like I said, I ll wait.

The glory of God begins years earlier. Unbeknownst to me. For years I have been asked by the preschool where my children attended a long time ago to calligraphy the diplomas of the graduating class. I never understood this request as I am a pretty average calligrapher and let s face it, in this computer age who needs that skill?: you can pop that diploma into the computer and get perfection in 2.5 seconds. Yet they kept asking and I kept answering their need.


But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.


Last year, the woman in the office, my dear Mary, lost her husband and she asked of me a special request. She said he had hand written letters to his daughters and could I write them in calligraphy as that was his request. Again, my thought process went to the computer and why this man would request hand written calligraphy that I will admit is far from perfect. Yet he did request it. Yes, he did. When she went to look for the letters he had written she found they were missing ... Missing until God could use them trifold, fourfold, ten fold however many graces ended up being in this big picture.

She lost them for almost a year. Just enough time for my father to pass away in the interim. Then for months after that while my grieving was too deep to touch.

Then, miraculously ..she found them. She called me and said she had found these letters -- letters from a father to his daughters--- letters that for some reason this man insisted they be done in calligraphy--- letters that God alone knew that she would turn to me to do. This man made this request well in advance of my dad passing away. This man made this request because God made this request through him.

These letters of love would come to me and through me from a man to his daughters ---and by coming through me they would come TO me from a dad to a daughter, my dad to me -- in fancy writing but simple words. I knew this in my heart the moment she found them--- I put the pieces of the big picture together and knew a miracle had just occurred. She thought it was a gift for her and her daughters. It was. I also knew it was a gift for me. It was.


I hope you never look back, but you never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get, Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.

I hope you take from this message that God will go to extreme measures to get across a message of love from one heart to another. If He has to. I believe that if it is in our power to do so, let the message of love come directly from us. Some of us may not be open for a message such as I received. What a loss of God s grace that would be ..speak your mind ..speak your heart love is always a gift that the time is right .right now.

Thank you God.

Copyright © 2007 Linda Woodward.  All rights reserved.