12 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” ~ John 8:12 NKJV
By Bro. John L. Cash
From time to time I have to stop by the post office to buy a book of stamps. I never just say, “Gimme a book of stamps, please.” After all, that’s what everybody says. Instead, I always say, “What kind of pretty stamps to you have today?”
I always get the feeling that the postal workers are just waiting for somebody to say that. Without fail, they show me all my possibilities from the drawer in front of them. More times than I can count, they have opened up the safe to show me another group of options.
Sometimes there are so many varieties of beautiful stamps that it’s quite difficult to choose. Last week I got Forever stamps that looked like vintage airmail stamps; very cool. But my prize purchase of the day was a book of first-class stamps with popsicles on them. And get this — each stamp smells like a different flavor of popsicle! How cool is that?
Now, I think there’s a lesson in here somewhere. It’s senseless to mail your telephone bill with a plain, ugly stamp when you can send it with a miniature work of art. For the same amount of time (and the same amount of money) you can brighten the world with these tiny rectangles of happiness.
And it’s a lesson that transfers to the rest of daily life, too. It’s dumb to settle for a drab and grumpy day when it takes no more effort to have one that’s full of color and kindness. Have you noticed that the Lord designed the universe so that happiness and sunshine are free? Let’s do our best to put our special “stamp” of compassion and joy on each moment that comes our way.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 33 years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He’s a retired Mississippi public schoolteacher with grown sons, and is now a stay-at-home-grandpa with his grandson, Landon Cash. He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in a brick house in town (where the Preacher got his wife to sniff the stamps because he was born without a sense of smell.) You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
