Most mornings, I spread peanut butter and jelly on slices of bread while my family eats breakfast. Like many parents, I have picky eaters, so I pack my son a lunch most days of the week to ensure he is actually eating something while at kindergarten all day.

This week, along with string cheese and grapes, I have been stashing little notes for Jackson to find during lunchtime. As he is a beginning reader, I have had to keep them pretty simple, but I’m pretty sure he has also been sharing the notes with his teacher (as well as all his friends) if he couldn’t make out a particular word.

The first day I wrote a note, I chose to make it a surprise and let him discover it. That note was the very first thing he wanted to excitedly talk about the moment he opened the door, running to see me. He proudly pulled the note out of his backpack and read it to me. He left it on the table to dig around for some other papers, and I tossed it in the trash can because it was a little wrinkly and had some sort of liquid stain on it. With an injured shout, Jackson quickly rushed to rescue his note and find a special place for it in his room so he could “keep it forever.”

That little love note meant more to him than I realized.

That’s a sentiment I can understand. Otherwise, why would I still have this?

This Bible still sits on my shelf, though the cover is worn and torn off and pages are missing. I no longer use it for my daily reading, but I can’t bear the thought of pitching it. This Bible means too much. It’s seen me through too much.

When I pick up this book, I discover notes lovingly written to me by my Father, tucked carefully in the pages. They are words I want to read over and over, reminding me of my God’s deep and enduring love for me, no matter what. They provide the encouragement I need, the wisdom I crave, the purpose I long for.

When is the last time you’ve received a love note? Whether it was just today, or too many years to count, please receive this one right now:

I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, [God] will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

– Ephesians 3: 16-19