Note:  E-mail followers and LinkedIn members received this post last week. But for some reason it disappeared from the actual Word Press blog site. After a half hour of “back-and-forth-ing” in the Help Chat Room yesterday, the expert and I agreed that the post was gone forever – who knows why or where. I decided to republish it because I think the statement it makes is important. So if you get a second e-mail notification for this post, just ignore – or read it again and be doubly blessed.

Gratitude makes us feel bursting with delight just to remember the gifts we have received. Thus we are double blessed when we receive something; for the gift itself and later, in the recall, for the memory of having been given it.  M.J. Ryan.

Since we moved into our new apartment a few months ago, I have been wishing for an inexpensive floor lamp for a dark corner in the living room. But medical expenses made that an unwise use of money. A few days ago a friend called from the Bibles for Mexico thrift shop saying that she has been looking for a lamp for us and thinks she has found one. She didn’t like the shade, and as we were talking, she said the switch didn’t work.  She would see if the store would trade out the shade and get her a new switch.  “I’ll call you in a minute,” she said in great excitement.

I sat down in some confusion.  Why is she getting me a lamp? What if I didn’t like it? Soon the phone rang, and my friend reported success. The lamp was ready to go. Could she come over now? I said, “Sure, do you know how to get here?” I started giving directions and she said “That’s enough. I’ll call you back when I get that far.” Which she did.  Soon she was standing at the door – lamp in hand.

We went in the house and I put the lamp where I had always imagined it. It fit just right, just as I had imagined it! I was really excited. She turned it on, demonstrating the three-way switch, and we stepped back. “It’s perfect!” I shouted.” I might have even jumped up and down. She smiled and smiled and smiled.  “Why did you do this? I asked.  “Because I love you,” she said, “and because God put your need for a lamp in my mind and heart and I couldn’t let it go.”

“But it’s so perfect!” I said teary-eyed. “It’s just right. Look how cozy the room looks now! How did you know what I wanted?”  She just smiled.

I have had the lamp for about a week. I smile at it fondly every time I go past it.  I turn it on first thing in the morning.  In the evening, it stays on until I go to bed. Every time I look at it, I am reminded of the friend who listened to God’s “marching orders” until she found me a lamp. And as M.M. Ryan says in the quote above, I am “doubly blessed” by the gift and how it constantly reminds me of how God cares about my life.