Mailbox Theology Rescue! …Hello weekend folks. I want to share a story with you about mailboxes…no, I have not gone daft, but this story from a friend of mine who is a freelance writer and does a lot of stories for Guideposts, really resonated with my heart. This mailbox story is a reminder that we often put a lot more bother about the small things in life instead of the big things! Enjoy.

“Like many people during the pandemic, my husband had been laid off. I was still working, but my job was only part-time and would be ending soon. I was worried about money, Covid, our future, etc. That’s when our mailboxes really started getting to me. Our property has two houses on it—ours and another we rent out. I’d never liked our mailboxes–they stood at the end of our long driveway, but for now, at least far enough away that I didn’t see them often. They were relics from the previous owners and in rough shape.

Recently, someone had driven into the pole it was bent, making the mailboxes cockeyed and pointing in different directions. Since they still opened and closed I didn’t do repairs because every time I saw them they reminded me of all the problems in my life. Actually, pulling into the driveway coming home from work I shouted, “Lord I wish we had better mailboxes, can’t anything be right?” My prayer was more of an indictment of my angry heart.

When I got home my husband said “Shihiem just texted, his sister saw a teenage girl drive her car into the mailboxes and mowed them down.” Shihiem is our neighbor and friend and his sister rents the other house on our property. “Is the girl OK?” I asked. “Yes, but she was really upset.” He gave us her number and information. I sighed in resignation, this repair is not in the budget.  With our income slashed since Paul’s layoff, this was an expense we didn’t need. Well, I guess it’s true what they say: Be careful what you wish for.

Getting ready to go out the next morning I saw an unfamiliar car at the end of the driveway. Paul asked me if he should go check it out, but I told him I was going out to run errands and would let him know what was going on. However, by the time I left the car was gone! But something else caught my attention immediately:  there stood a sturdy, white post with two arms branching off from the center. A new, shiny mailbox perched on each arm—one black, one white. Each one had large, neat numbers on the sides. I sat there in my car at the end of the driveway, stunned. Then, staring at the mailboxes some more, I realized the post wasn’t just a post. It looked like a large white cross.

I called Paul and told him to go see the mailboxes, I didn’t tell him why. Later when I got home, Paul asked me if I checked the insides, which I didn’t. He handed me the note left in our box: Audree, a young teen had included her phone number and address, in case we needed anything else, along with a big apology. We called her immediately to thank her and make sure she was not injured but we got her mother instead. She told us Audree is 16 and had only been driving for a year and this was her first accident. She had a part-time job, so she went out early to get the supplies and wanted to surprise us with new mailboxes. She said Audree was lucky it turned out the way it did with no one hurt and it was also a great learning experience for her.

As we ended the conversation I just had to mention the post that looked like a cross. Her mother told me Audree had been going with a friend to church and she believed Jesus was taking care of her in that accident so that is why she made the post look like a cross. I shared my faith with this wonderful mother and it didn’t take long for Paul and I to become close friends with Audree and her mother.”

OK, how do you like that “mailbox theology?” A down-and-out couple and a teenager in an accident both not only learned the lessons of God’s enduring grace, but also experienced that grace in a loving exchange that gave joy to three hearts (well, and God’s heart, too!). Again, the words that God spoke to Jeremiah in Chapter 29:11 [Voice] says it all:

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Eternal,
“plans for peace, not evil, to give you a
future and hope—never forget that.

I just thought this story was a great reminder to us all when we feel the earth moving under our feet, or we think the sky is falling, that God still knows the desires of our hearts and from the big things to the little things, he is in it all and all of it is important—nothing is trivial. God has plans for us, period. If we can remember that, imagine a day with more smiles than frowns! Perhaps we should just all take a ride today and look at mailboxes!!