Bless Your Heart

When my mother was moving from one apartment to another, one box of precious items somehow made an unintentional side trip to a local thrift store. By the time we realized our mistake, the box's contents had been sold. Among those items was a daily, perpetual calendar, called "Bless Your Heart." With the flip of each page, your day would be graced with a saying, a prayer and a Bible passage. When Mom had bought herself the calendar many years before, she had also bought one for her sister, my aunt.  One recent weekday when I dashed home for lunch, I found a parcel in our mailbox from Aunt Ellie. Inside was a "Bless Your Heart" calendar identical the one that Mom had treasured and lost. Aunt Ellie had found it in a thrift store in her community and generously wanted me to have it as a remembrance of Mom. I immediately opened the calendar to that particular day and gasped, for the message that day centered on Mom's favorite Scripture passage from the Psalms: "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." I couldn't help but feel that Mom had had a hand in Aunt Ellie's sending me that calendar and the very specific day that I would receive it. Bless Aunt Ellie's heart and bless my late mom's, too.