Secret Notes of Encouragement

Why God invented shovels note

One day last week the phone rang connecting me to unexpected blessing. The voice on the other end of the call was a dear friend that I had been secretly encouraging for several months.

She said, "Do you have a tea bag? I've got a thermos of hot water.  Be ready at 2:00. I'll pick you up".

We sipped tea from vintage china cups, at a sunny lakeside park, on a perfect Autumn day. A bouquet of pink blooms and verbena graced the rough wooden picnic table.  Marcy brought our table setting in a wicker bicycle basket. We laughed, shared our hearts, and put together the mystery of the "secret notes". 

Marcy began receiving secret notes last June. I had been stealthily delivering messages of encouragement to my friend at her store, Garden Spot.  Arty notes with fun garden quotes. Some messages were for the intent of inspiring and strengthening her heart. Little pieces of cheer-ups. Positive quotes to help her heart heal and have hope.

Each note was made by layering ephemera on to a base of ledger paper. I then tore eye-catching pictures from garden magazines. These images are placed to bring a visual point of interest. I continued to play with small pieces of color and curiosities until I found just the right balance. The quirkier the better. Then I hand lettered an interesting garden quote. At the bottom I always added xoxo (not wanting to reveal my true identity). 

Always bring your sunshine (Marcy's Garden Spot is in Sunnyland)

Little did I know how my own heart would encounter devastation at the beginning of August. I felt vulnerable and exposed. My response was to pull my blankie over my head and withdraw. My resolve to keep delivering Marcy's secret notes kept me going. I pushed myself to create an arty paper, drive down to the Garden Spot, cheerfully threatened the staff to sworn secrecy, and then slink back into despondency as I drove home. 

I love this quote, “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey

My dear friend did not know that our family had encountered a major life transition. I never expected anything in return for all those special deliveries to Marcy. God knew my heart. Marcy's beautiful act of kindness was exactly what my own healing heart really, really needed. 

Now, go encourage a desperate heart!