The Lord was certainly going to pull me through my highly stressful week, but my sister’s call caught me at a grumpy, faithless moment. “I can’t believe everything I do for these people!” was the essence of my attitude as I poured out my woe. “Somebody should give me a plaque!”
Always quick to recognize and encourage people, Diana sent me something far better than a plaque – she sent a giant, gorgeous bouquet of flowers. She told the florist to sign every family member’s name under a familiar saying: “You never cease to amaze us!”
It was a great thought, but the florist didn’t get it quite right. Imagine my confusion when accompanying such a beautiful arrangement of flowers was a card that said, “You never seem to admire us.”
Though somewhat perplexed by the message, I knew Diana’s heart, recognized the thoughtfulness of the flowers, and called to thank her. “They’re beautiful!” I told her answering machine. “I was puzzled by the note – that I never seem to admire you – I do admire you, in fact I admire you a lot, and I’m sorry I haven’t communicated that better, and I promise to be more affirming in the future…”
It didn’t take her long to call me back. “The card was supposed to say,” and she treated this very much like an announcement, “YOU NEVER CEASE TO AMAZE US!!” We had a good laugh over it, but her frustration was thinly disguised. “I’m going to make them send you another card!” she promised.
“Don’t worry about it!” I assured her. “This will make a wonderful story!”
“I wasn’t trying to send you another story,“ she insisted. “I was trying to send you words of affirmation!”
A few days later, an oversized, elegant card arrived in the mail from the florist. Inside was a very carefully written message, but I had to read it again to make sure I had read it right. It said, “You never seem to amaze us”!!!
The two other gals in my office had gotten in on the first card and we laughed until all three of us had tears rolling down our cheeks. I called my mother and we laughed some more. “Whatever you do,” I urged her, “Please don’t tell Diana!” But what did I do next? I called Diana! It was just too good! I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep it from her!
“SO HELP ME,” she determined, “I’m going to make them do this over until they get it right!”
“Maybe you should just write the card yourself,” I suggested.
“I’m on my way to Hallmark right now!” she answered, and I believed her. And she did send me a gorgeous card – with the right message – which I still have (along with the other two, but don’t tell Diana that).
In spite of the frustration, we have laughed over those cards many times since. “You never cease to amaze us!” has become a standard saying in our family. We’ve also wondered… What would have happened if someone else had gotten a card like that? We know people who would have been deeply offended, but would never have mentioned or clarified it, and would have carried bitterness and hostility over it for years. What a tragedy that would have been!
It is soooo easy to have misunderstandings between people, isn’t it? My observation is that God has the same trouble. There are several reasons, but one of them is that He does so much communicating through florists – through you and me! – and we don’t always get the message straight!
I knew Diana’s heart, so when something came up that I didn’t understand, I could give her the benefit of the doubt as I went to her for some clarification. With God, even though we “see through a glass darkly”*, we do know His heart. We may not always understand His messages, and can’t at the moment go to Him face to face, but one day we will. And when he explains it, everything will make sense.
So I’m interested in a couple of things:
(1) Whether or not they’ve had a happy ending, what are some of the misunderstandings you’ve had with people? What did it take to get things straightened out? How could they have been avoided?
(2) As God’s “florists”, how can we make sure we are communicating His word accurately to people? How can we “test” the messages other people are giving for Him? Has there ever been a time you misunderstood God? How did you get things straightened out?
*1 Corinthians 13:12
I really did want Cheri to feel absolutely fabulous when she received the flowers, AND the well thought out card!! As always, she turned something that could have been awful into a VERY funny story; kinda like a parable!!