[ a love letter ]

   I went home to spend some time with my mormor [grandma] this weekend, which was lovely as always. With our mixed language of Daneglish, we get along pretty well. We don't talk a lot, and that's okay. Neither of us feel the need to fill the silence when most are uncomfortable with it.

   We laugh, we joke, we smile. We're getting to know each other little by little. Only getting to see her once a year for a month my entire life hasn't really given us the opportunity to really get to know one another.

   Her house is the place I feel most at home. I have so many great memories from that place, reaching all the way back to being 3 years old.

   Especially summertime. Those have always been glorious times.

   Something about Denmark has always captured my heart, has always been a second home. As a child, I always wanted to marry a Dane and end up living here with my dream ranch with an endless amount of horses.

   We went for a walk, mormor and I, in the woods by her house. I realized while we were walking that this was one of my favorite places on earth.


   I thought back to one morning run I had while staying there. I had gotten up early enough to see the sun rising while running through the woods. It was breathtaking, really. I watched it slowly crawl its way up along the trees, casting a stunning yellow atmosphere over everything it reached. By the time I made it by the shore, the sun had found its way into the sky and was shining all its glory over the water.

   Picture perfect.

   One of those moments when you realize how beautiful His creation is. The intricacy, the little moments.

   This time walking through the woods, there was snow covering the ground. The light reflecting off the snow made everything bright, the light reaching into the normally dark crevices of the woods.

   Magical.

   We both walked in silence, each thinking our own thoughts in confidentiality.

   And as I was thinking how magical everything appeared, I started thinking how everything around us was a part of His romance to us.

   How everything that He created around us, our lives, is like a love letter to us. This world is a mere shadow of the canvas of His intense love for us.

   We all appreciate different things in life. We all see and notice different details. Some things speak to us more than others. We have different tastes. And our God is a creative God.

   It's the smallest things, I realized. The way the light falls through the branches on a summer day, a warm breeze making them dance. A moving and emotional dance by someone who poured their heart out. The sound of a particular hardshoe rhythm. Laughter. The combination of certain colors. And on and on and on.

   Everything in creation is singing His love song to us. Telling us, beckoning us to Him.

   He longs so deeply for us to know the depth of His love, something we could go our entire lives and never fully understand. And even into eternity, will we ever fully?

   So there I was, walking through the woods, and all of this is running in my head. And I began to look back in my life at all the little things. The little romantic things of life. And when I say romantic, I don't mean all that mushy, gushy crap. So get that out of your head.

   I mean the kind where you would lay down your own perfect, sinless son in exchange for an entire world filled with screw ups.

   Like you and me.

   My mind can't even comprehend this at all. My heart says that's okay, you never will, but you can taste it, feel it, live in it.

   Live in it. Live through it.

   How many times has He tried to whisper to me in everyday life through something, but I was too busy or not interested? How many times has He tried to draw me into something deeper but I had other ideas or plans?

   I want to be romanced by Him everyday. I want to hear the secrets of His heart. I want to draw closer. I want to understand more fully what it means to love. And to be loved. Especially by the King, my Father.

   Abba.

  The greatest love story in all the centuries, and the author wants to know me personally. He wants me to be part of His plot. He wants to have a relationship.

   With me.

   And you.

   So in the grand schemes of our everyday hectic and chaotic lives, you and I have the opportunity to see the things around us -- physical, emotional, and spiritual -- and hear what it is He's trying to whisper.

   He loves you. So much. And so deeply.

   He's always reaching out to you. Always wanting to remind you of just how much He loves you.

   In the mundane and in the magical things of life, He's there.

   Don't miss it.

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and

passing over transgression for

 the remnant of his inheritance? He does

not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

Micah 7.18