July 19, 2025
When our daughter comes home, we laugh, reminisce, eat delicious food, laugh more, make fun of each other… And then she tells us everything we have that is past its expiration date. Apparently, my beloved and I only look at the date on the milk.
Today, the Doritos and the hamburger buns had expired. A while back, she found that our Worcestershire sauce was several years old. She tossed it, then found the spare in the cabinet. It was best if used by 2023. We had been using that first bottle.
She has found expired pudding, Jello, and old flour tortillas. Yesterday, she threw away the bag of potatoes because she swore they had arms. She had planned to use Cajun seasoning on one of those potatoes. We don’t use much Cajun seasoning. It expired in 2017. Found an old school can of baking powder in the cabinet dated 2005. I might have used it once in my entire life.
A few weeks ago, when she was visiting, she had a headache that wouldn’t go away. I gave her ibuprofen. After a bit, she realized it had expired during COVID.
Her expiration research is conducted at every visit, though we tell her we don’t care. We feel quite blessed and content just as we are.
As she seeks out every BEST BY date, I am reminded of one thing that never expires: God’s love. Praise His sweet Name!
I have given Him so many reasons to stop loving me, to give up on me, to run away from me. Still, He remains.
Psalm 136 records some of Israel’s history and God's victories. It is written in what seems to be a responsive reading with the congregation. After each sentence are the words “His love endures forever.” Twenty-six times! It is as if that phrase needs to sink in. It’s a good thing to let sink in. When the devil attacks, especially our minds, we must continually remind ourselves that God’s love is true and constant.
I can write my own psalm: When I am weak, His love endures forever. When I want to quit, His love endures forever. When I am fearful, His love endures forever. When I want my way instead of His, His love endures forever.
Again and again, the Bible reminds us that God’s love never expires. Jeremiah 31:3 is a delicious verse to keep: “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Ephesians 3:19 tells us it is so great it cannot be measured. Psalm 100:5: “For the LORD is good; His love endures forever and His faithfulness to all generations.” Isaiah 54:10 reminds us that His unfailing love will not be shaken. I like the sound of that.
The next time you feel you’ve passed your shelf life, that your BEST BY date has come and is long gone, that you are only good to be thrown in the trash, fill your mind with truths from God’s Word – something else that never gets old.
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Dawn Reed is a pastor's wife, newspaper columnist, and the author of Weiner Stew: Inspiring Stories from Appalachia. Reach her at preacherswife7@yahoo.com.
