XOXO

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

XOXO. When you see those four letters what comes to mind? Love. Or love and kisses. Now picture the X’s as being large nails and the O’s as being a crown of thorns. What do you think of? Jesus. The One who paid the ultimate price to demonstrate His love for us. Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Therefore, when I saw the new sweatshirt Tracy had made with the “XOXO – the original love letters” design on it, I thought, “wow, what a powerful message!” The desire to have one was intense.

But there was a problem.

Tracy had already made me two other very special sweatshirts. Tracy, a dear sewing friend of Mom Dekle is an artist who puts lots of love and care into her masterpieces. Furthermore, she refused to be paid for her efforts.

At Christmas time, she made mom a beautiful Christmas design on a green sweatshirt. I loved it. Well, mom asked her if she would make me one and she didn’t hesitate. A few days later I had my own, the same pattern but on a red sweatshirt. Mom loves red more, so we switched.

Because she does such beautiful work, I bought a teal sweatshirt and mustered up the courage to ask her if she would do a special sweatshirt with our motto on it: Pursuing God’s delicious unknown, including a sea turtle. She gladly made it, again, refusing payment. Now I had two treasured sweatshirts for which I was very grateful.

In January Tracy came out with another design. All her designs are pretty amazing, but this design really spoke to me like none other. It was the XOXO. So, when she gave mom a sweatshirt with this design, I really wanted it. Tim and I were at Costco, so I bought a maroon colored sweatshirt in anticipation. But, the last thing I wanted to do was take advantage of her generosity. It was a struggle to think of what to say or how to approach her with the request. I had already given her my book and some homemade cards, so what could I do? I even pictured myself getting down on my hands and knees, begging for her compassion. Compassion definitely wasn’t the problem. Tracy has it in spades.

Finally, after a restless night of dreaming all the different ways I could approach the situation, I decided to just let it go. Perhaps I would ask in a few months but for right now I was just going to leave it. Mom knew I wanted the sweater as well so I told her to just let it lie dormant for now. I had been way too obsessed about the whole thing. It was amazing, the peace which followed after I let it go.

A day or two later mom and Tracy were talking on the phone when the topic of the sweatshirt came up. Mom mentioned to Tracy that I really liked that design but decided not to ask for it. That’s when Tracy shared that she knew I would like it. In fact, she really wanted to make it for me but didn’t want to hurt mom’s feeling by making me one. She had made the sweatshirt for mom’s birthday and didn’t want to take away the uniqueness from her birthday present. Mom replied, she would be delighted for me to have one as well. This was great news for Tracy. Was God working or what?

Mom and dad were running errands at the time of that phone call so mom called Tim to tell him we needed to take the sweatshirt to Tracy right away. When we arrived at her home, she expressed again how excited she was to do this design for me. She was excited? She was the giver and she was excited! Her husband told us, it was her way of ministry for she would make these sweatshirts for so many people, never asking for a cent. Oh, that more of us would have that attitude when it comes to giving. A poem comes to mind as I write this: “What giving again?” I asked in dismay. “And must I keep giving and giving away?” “Oh no,” said the Master, piercing me through. “Just give till the Father stops giving to you!” (Author unknown) Tracy’s attitude was one of joy not dismay, but how many times is my attitude like this poem?  Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Also 1 Timothy 6:18 admonishes, “… to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.”

After a few hours, Tracy called and told us to come back. The sweatshirt was done. Again, she reinforced the fact that she was so excited to do this for me. Just proving it was really a GOD-thing! I had let go of an obsession and God graciously gave me a desire of my heart. What love. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)

Well, that’s not the end of the story. Mom told me to hold off posting this story till Tracy saw it, she was coming by this afternoon. That was actually a ruse as Tracy brought by another very beautiful sweatshirt for the two of us. Faith. James 1:6 states: “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”

When I decided to let the request for the XOXO go and just leave it to God, there were no expectations. If God wanted me to have the sweater, He could work it out in His time and way. He did. Then to top it off, I was given another very appropriate sweatshirt. God works in all different ways, but I believe He delights in giving gifts to His children. Furthermore, He does “… far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Next time you see XOXO, think of the original love letters: Jesus Christ!

Blessings, mari