On our trip back from Vermont a couple weeks ago, as I always do, I try to catch up on reading my AARP Bulletins.  I often find helpful things about updated laws and Social Security benefits. Additionally, I find interesting articles in the Your Health section and funny jokes and puns on the Witty and Wise page.  I especially like to read the Do You Remember? ditty as it always takes me back to simpler times in my life which brings me peace.

This particular segment featured S&H Green Stamps which I’m sure most of you remember.  As was the case with the author of this article, I too was in charge of pasting the S&H Green Stamps into the collection book which were later use to acquire special items we might not otherwise get. It was like getting something for free, in spite of the chore of licking the stamps and putting them in the books which wasn’t always fun, nor did it taste very good. We acquired lots of Green Stamps because my mother bought lots of groceries for our family of four kids, three of them boys who ate a lot. I remember getting most of our stamps at the grocery store.

It was always thrilling to get the Ideabook catalog to carefully study each page to see what was available and how many books I would have to redeem to get that treasure.  Would I have to wait until another grocery shopping trip or two to fill enough books or settle for something that required fewer stamps?  Did my mom want to get something she needed with the stamp books or could I use them?  Decisions, decisions.  I specifically remember acquiring a cute sheet and comforter set at the redemption center which I needed for my dorm room. That’s the last time I remember using them.  In the late 70’s the Green Stamps faded away so there were no more stamps to redeem. It was a sad day indeed.

Isn’t it a blessing that God’s unconditional love for us never fades away like the Green Stamps of yesteryear? We rely on this gift of salvation through the birth, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus and the chance for redemption it offers us. We only have to believe in this gift and ask God to remove and forgive our sins.

We are given His grace through the redemption that came from Jesus. Romans 3:24

Redemption is our choice and salvation is our treasured gift. Thanks be to God!

Patty