Thankful for Gifts from the Heart

9. April 2010 by Starr.

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

 Over the years I have written in many places and with many things and on many different things.  I have written with pens, pencils, chalk, crayon, markers, paint, eyebrow pencils, lipsticks…have borrowed pens from waitors, airline attendants, strangers in coffee shops, pharmacies, and countless other places.  I have written in not only the usual notebooks, pads of paper, etc…but I have found myself in situations, where I have been forced to write ideas upon napkins, toilet paper, paper towels, my hand, my arm, my sock, and I have even written on my jeans.  One time, I even wrote an idea on a tablecloth at a restaurant in Little Rock, and offered to buy the tablecloth because I needed to cut the corner off to take that area home with me.  The manager let me take the tablecloth free, anyway.  That was awesome!  But, we writers do what we must do, to keep that idea before it flies away!

Since then I have learned to keep a tape recorder nearby, and batteries.  I have learned to be prepared.  With all of the preparedness, however, I still cannot be prepared for everything all by myself.  That’s where God, and His angels, and the gifts from the heart of the people who feel led to give items to me, comes into play.

 I just was thinking today that I hadn’t taken time to blog a proper thank you on this topic.  I wish I had the space and the time here in this blog to talk about all of the wonderful situations I have experienced over the years with the sweet children, teens and adults who have blessed me with a precious tokens from their hearts. 

I have been given pebbles, seashells, pencils…some new, some used, some found on school buses, on sidewalks, in playgrounds, some with chewed up erasers, some broken in half…but all of them still had words left in them!  I have been given items like pez dispensers, boxes of staples, boxes of paperclips, tape, pencil top erasers, erasers that smell like soda, erasers that smell like fruit, to name a few.

I had someone send me a pen from Paris.  Someone once sent me a pen from Florida.  Yesterday, someone sent me a beautiful red light up pen that simply said, “I love you.”  How awesome is that?!  Someone that read one of my articles once, felt led to just send me a coupon for a free pizza.  Bless that person, because they realized I needed to eat, also.  (Sometimes when I’m writing hard, I forget to.) 

To me, the blessing is that, people care about my heart, to know that in my writer’s soul…I need writer’s tools, (Yes, that includes food.) to do what God has called me to do, and that is to work toward the goal to which I am trying to attain. 

To all of you out there who have offered me a gift from your heart, thank you so very much and I love you dearly.  To those of you who have given me a flower, a pebble that you enjoy, a candle….a notebook, a book of stamps…a box of envelopes, a monetary donation of love…whatever it may be, I love them all, and take them to heart.  Because, like a runner running a race, who has his team cheering him on, on the sidelines, ready to hand him the bottles of water along the way….that’s how I see those who, feel led to now and then just give me an encouraging word, and you are a very important part of my life and I cannot make it without you.  Trust that.  Please email me any time with anything you need, also or any prayer request and I would love to pray specifically for that request.  

Yesterday, when I opened that envelope with that little red pen that lit up and said, “I love you,”  I smiled and only a writer, I think, can recognize the power of that tool.  To some, it’s just a pen.  To people who aren’t potters, it’s just clay.  See?  To me, it’s a tool I can create something with!  It came from someone very special with me in their mind with my ministry and my goals in their  heart.  For that I am thankful.

To my children, my family…all of them, biologically, or sent formally by God…thank you for your gifts from the heart…for your notes on my board, my closet door, for understanding when I don’t answer when you ask me things because I’m miles away…for taking care of dinner, for finding the missing sock, for quieting the barking dog, for mowing the grass, for helping me when I can’t find that file, my glasses, my phone, my Rhodiola 110…for just being you and for being the very best that any mother/woman/friend/writer/keeper of the cheerios can ever ask for.   I love you, so.

Cheryl Starr

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