I have been cleaning out drawers and throwing out stuff that I have no clue why I saved it.  

But I did come across a treasure.  

It wouldn’t seem as such to the naked eye.  But I knew when I saw the little brown leather notebook, about half the size of a checkbook, just what I had.  

It was a little book of notes that my Grandpa had written to my Grandma when they were young.  

They were married in 1911 after meeting at a church revival.  My grandmother, just 18 at the time, was the organist who traveled with the preacher to the little country church where my Grandpa attended. 

The group from the church came complete with pump organ and the organist, Mattie Price, by horse-drawn wagon. 

That’s my Grandma, Mattie, who fell in love with Ed.  

The notebook was filled with short poems such as this one: “I have not wealth to give, but you may take my heart, and as long as I live from thee I will never part.”

Or this one which is one of my favorites, “When you’re in the field picking cotton, just think of me and I’ll come trotting.”

Of course, in East Texas trotting would be pronounced, trotton, like cotton.  

They married when Mattie was 19 and Ed was 28.  He passed at the age of 100 and she just two months later at 91. 

Their only son, my dad passed earlier that year at the age of 69.  

I think the passing of her son and husband were too much for her to bear for she had been healthy for a 91-year-old until that year.   

They would have been married for 73 years.  

This was my inspiration to begin to write notes to my wife.  We write them on post-it notes not as fancy as a leather notebook. 

God wrote us love notes as well and it is good to read them from time to time, like getting wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. Let these words cover you with hope and love: “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.” Romans 12:12 and “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

 

John Warren is Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church, 502 North 6th Street in Orange.