Years ago, I found an article written by a man who used to receive letters from a man who was in prison for life and would never get out.
This was his last letter that he received:
“I deserve to be here. All I ask is the chance after I die to apologize to God face to face for wasting and ignoring His gifts.
But maybe I would never have seen those gifs so clear if I wasn’t here.
I now know now that God’s gifts are not necessarily the big things but the small things that I took for granted. It’s those small things that I miss the most.
I miss gifts like a good rainy day, and being out in it and getting soaked to the bone.
I miss crawdads in streams and woodpeckers in trees.
I miss dragonflies over ponds, and fish jumping and making that sound on a hot summer day.
I miss fried trout with butter and sandwiches made by someone who cares about you.
I miss toast made in a toaster, and the smell of it when you walk into the kitchen.
I miss church bells and the lonely sound they make on Sunday morning.
I miss church choirs and people singing hymns in a church that really carries the sound.
I miss dirt with a point to it, like in gardens or farms.
I miss the smell of the fresh morning in the mountains or at the beach and the feel of the air.
I used to think the thing I missed most were dogs. I sure have missed my dogs. They love you no matter what you have done or what you don’t do.
But now the thing I really miss the most is having kids around, underfoot, laughing and yelling and arguing and falling asleep in half a second right wherever they landed last. If I ever do get to see God face to face and can ask one favor, I’d ask for kids around again.
All these small things, I took them for granted, I was in such a hurry I hardly noticed them, but when you add them all up, they are what heaven is, it seems to me. They are heaven. All these small things.
And what this really means then is that there are no small things, are there? Nothing is little or insignificant. Everything is huge and holy and so stuffed with miracles that the miracles leak out and give us hope for this world.
So, my friend, please remember each day is a gift, full of miracles, if you will take time to see them.”
