Timing is everything

When Sam woke up, it was raining again. As if life wasn’t depressing enough right now – the Vancouver spring rain and the dreary grey sky suited the dark mood she was in. She tossed her reddish curls, yawned and slowly dressed for work. As usual, money was on her mind. Her meagre cash reserve was totally gone and she was piling up the balance on her only credit card at a frightful pace. With her hours cut back due to the virus crisis, she didn’t know where to turn. “It’ll take a miracle – a total utter miracle to save me now” she whispered to herself. “Lord, what’ll I do? How can I get through even one more month?” Tears threatened – and spilled over. At least there was no make-up to spoil.

She took time for her usual Bible reading out of the one recently bequeathed to her from her grandfather. Sam sat at her large old oak desk, a family heirloom that had come to her years ago. She loved this desk, thinking of the years that her father and even her grandfather had used it. Two black books awaited her. She opened the upper drawer on the left and pulled out the small black notebook that she used to write down inspirations from the other black book in the drawer, her grandfather’s large Bible. She reverently, fondly, caressed the well-worn black cover, opened the zipper that held it securely closed and turned to the bookmark that held her place from yesterday’s reading.

Holding his Bible always brought back warm, yet painful memories of her dear grandfather. He had loved her so much, encouraged her in all her endeavours. He was full of such quiet, useful advice; she missed him very much. If only she could talk to him about one more problem, her money problem. Not that he could help financially with that. He had subsisted on his small pension for years, and couldn’t possibly have made a difference. But somehow, money just didn’t matter when they were together. His quieting presence was worth more than any amount of money to her.

Sam appreciated so much the notes that grandpa made in the margins, as thoughts came to him during his meditation. It was almost like having him there beside her, guiding her thoughts, bringing insight that just would not have occurred to her – especially when she was like this – distracted by her troubles. Jesus – her grandfather – they sort of melded into one. When she thought of one, she thought of the other. She felt so fortunate for such a rich spiritual heritage.

Grandpa had passed away suddenly over six months ago, and it had taken until just a week ago for her to receive the Bible. He had no other grandchildren, and had specifically indicated that his Bible would go to Sam. Or rather Samantha – he was the only one that called her that, which was another proof of their deep connection. He said her name with such tenderness, almost melodicly, like he was caressing her with it.

The day’s reading was from Matthew chapter six, starting at verse 19.

“Ewww, not a promising start” she murmured as she read: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth.” “No danger of that in my situation. Hmmm... riches – wasn’t it Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof who said “May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover?”

She read on.... “You cannot serve both God and money”. “Well, that’s another issue I don’t have to worry about.” she mumbled to herself. Nothing to note so far. Sighing, she moved on.

“What’s that?” she said aloud as she sat up straight. In grandpa’s tiny shaky printing, right in front of the next verse, it looked like her name. Staring at it carefully, she could make it out for sure – “Samantha” and it was underlined. The text continued “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.”

“Why did you do that Grandpa? Did you know I was gonna be broke?” She made a note in her little black notebook. She continued down to the end of the chapter and made several more notes, ending with “Do not worry about tomorrow”. “Okay, Grandpa, just for you, I’ll try not to worry today.”

She was just about to close the Bible when she noticed some more of Grandpa’s handwriting at the end of the chapter. After studying it carefully, it seemed to say “under cover”.

“Grandpa, what are you talking about? Under cover of God’s protection? Ah, yes – that must be it. Don’t worry about tomorrow, God has you covered.”

She thoughtfully closed the Bible and finished preparations for going to work. She couldn’t afford to miss even a four hour shift. She walked – in the rain – the twelve blocks to work, not daring to spend even bus fare when she could avoid it.

“Hey, Sam, you’re looking chipper this morning!” she was greeted by her friend Myrna. “And wet! Did you walk in this rain?”

“Hey yourself Myrna! Yes I walked, and I love the exercise. Good to see you again, with the reduced shifts we just hardly see each other any more.”

“You have a special glow about you today. What’s that about?”

“Oh ... I dunno” she hesitated, wondering whether to say anything. “I just found a little note in my grandpa’s Bible, and I feel like he’s close today.”

“What did it say?”

“Well first he just printed my name, you know, in tiny letters, right against ‘do not worry’. It seemed like a special message for me, especially with the way our hours are cut back”.

“Wow, that’s for sure,” Myrna agreed “I could use a reminder not to worry too. So what else did it say?”

“Well that’s the odd part – right at the end of the chapter, he printed – again in tiny letters what looks like – ‘under cover’. I dunno, it’s hard to make it out, but that’s what it looks like. It’s a strange comment to make about a Bible verse.”

“Do you think maybe it’s not about a Bible verse? Oh dear – I’ve got to get out there. It’s Nicki’s turn for a break. Talk to you later. ” Myrna hurried off.

It was a busy day; Sam managed to keep her mind on her work and the time flew by.

The sun was shining as she walked home. That buoyed her spirits, and even the cool spring breeze didn’t bother her, but rather served to give her rosy red cheeks and brighten her spirits even more.

“Grandpa, I don’t know how you did it, but I’ve had a peaceful day.” She whispered as she walked in the door.

She thought again about ‘under cover’, and wonderingly pulled the Bible out of the drawer. Maybe Myrna was right. “Under cover? Did you mean there is something under the cover of the Bible Grandpa?” She looked around the edges of the cover for an opening, and soon found one on the inside of the back cover. Looking in the cover she noticed a small piece of paper. She shook it carefully and out fell a note. Shocked and breathless, she read the note.

“Samantha dear”, it said. “I asked the Lord to guide you to this note whenever you were in need. Over the years, I’ve accumulated some funds mostly by selling some antiques, and wanted you to have it. You’ll find some bills scattered throughout the Old Testament. Perhaps there is even enough to help you realize your dream of taking some nurses training. Love Grandpa.”

Tears were falling as she slowly paged through the Bible, finding several thousand-dollar bills, all neatly tucked into the binding to keep them from falling out. She pulled them out alternately laughing and crying as she did so.

“Grandpa,” she sobbed – “how did you do it? Why did you do it? You could have had a nice car, or taken that trip to Israel you always wanted.”

Sam was stunned by this discovery – thoughts, plans, hopes fired through her brain, and always back to the sobbing. When she could see straight, through the messed up make-up, she counted it. One, two, three.... eighteen, nineteen – TWENTY!

From working at the bank she knew the Canadian government had stopped making these bills several years earlier, so she wondered how he had managed to find so many. Twenty-thousand dollars! She dropped to her knees in a laughing, crying prayer of thanksgiving. “Thank you Jesus ... er .... Grandpa, or whoever you are.”