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by Rhonda RheaI carry the basic essentials of life in my purse. Aspirin, lipstick, hand-lotion, credit cards...what more could anyone need? And whatever life hands me I can usually stuff in my purse. I think I have a purse reflex. I can stuff things in there and never even know it.
I found a five dollar bill in a sneaky secret pocket last week. Even better, I found a candy bar. Now that was interesting. It was scrunched into about a bajillion bits--almost liquefied--but it was still inside the wrapper.
I have to admit there are some encounters that aren’t exactly positive purse experiences. The other day, for example, I was making a return and I had to do an emergency receipt search at the customer service counter. My purse stuff started piling up. I pulled out 5 loose Lifesavers, an old Valentine, sunscreen, one mitten, 6 kid meal toys (including a mini-tractor with only one wheel), 3 keys of unknown lock origin, and a dead cricket. But no receipt. There were 12 tissues (none I would actually use), last year’s Christmas list, a ticket stub to the Jr. High spring concert, the backs from 4 adhesive name tags, and a partridge in a pear tree (kidding about the partridge).
I scraped up a Denny’s coupon that expired in 1997 and a plastic Easter egg. The egg rattled, but I was afraid to open it. Then there were 2 gummy-worms stuck in a hairbrush. I hate to admit it, but there was also about enough purse fuzz in there to stuff a sofa pillow. Inside the purse fuzz, something green and squishy caught my eye--and it frightened me. I gained courage by tossing the dead cricket and drinking the candybar.
Then I got to the heart of my purse. I found my New Testament. It had all my family pictures tucked inside. That’s when I realized that everything important in life could be found in my purse. Okay, I didn’t exactly find Jesus in my purse, but his Word was there. Granted, it smelled like Juicy Fruit, but it was a great reminder that there’s really no place I can go where I won’t find the Lord’s presence. Not one fuzz-covered place!
Psalm 139:7-10 says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”
There’s no place I can go without him--not the heavens, not the depths, not the far side of the sea. I could climb all the way inside my purse, and he would still find me there. There’s nothing that he doesn’t know about me. He knows the contents of my purse and the contents of my heart. And he still loves me.
That’s reason to celebrate--even though I never found the receipt. Maybe the cricket ate it. For the record, I think the green thing used to be a jelly bean. I guess we’ll never know. One of the kids ate it.
Rhonda Rhea writes award-winning inspirational humor columns for other Christian publications in the U.S. and Canada. Look for her new book, Amusing Grace, at your local Christian bookstore. Click here to see her website.
