You've got mail

Hands down one of the best movies of all time is You've Got Mail. Someone older, from a different era than my own, might beg to differ. But if you were born in the 90's and are a female then there is a very probable chance that you adore this movie. 
Oh, you want me to enumerate the reasons I'm in love with this movie? Well sure I will, only since you asked.
1) It takes place in NYC...in the fall. This, in my humble opinion, is the optimum movie setting. Fall is such a picturesque time of year. New York is tough to beat when it comes to the ranking of big cities. Put the two together and you have the ideal movie setting. 
2) Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Who doesn't love the two of them together? We fell in love with them in Sleepless in Seattle and they never fail to disappoint us.
3) AOL dial up. Old school internet connection is a step back in time. Plus it adds suspense - my kind of suspense. Will there be a new message in the inbox??? So much better then the kind of suspense that involves a possible murderer behind the next door.
4) A dog. I live in Chagrin Falls (aka dog town) so it would follow that I love dogs in my movies, too. 5) A small, family owned business. Who wouldn't want to have a shop around the corner that all the little kids flock to after school? This is small town America at its best - in the middle of a big city, no less. We all long for this kind of intimate sense of community at some point in our lives.
6) There is a villain: Fox Book Store. Again, my kind of villain, the kind that sells books at a discount price.
7) The Starbucks and its seats next to the window, overlooking those that pass by on the sidewalk. Starbucks is a passion of mine (can I call it that?)... Currently I am sitting in a Starbucks at just such a seat by the window overlooking the street and those that walk by on the sidewalks. My own little slice of You've Got Mail.

I could continue on to infinity with my litany of reasons I love You've Got Mail (and the reasons you should love it, too) but I think you get the point. There is one last reason for my love that I think it worth sharing. It is a bit more in depth. Not as basic as a cup of coffee. Not as definable as a dog. 
I love You've Got Mail because it can hit a chord with any person who has ever wanted to have love returned to them. It speaks to the heart that is longing for a love letter, a confirmation of mutual desire. 
At some point in life's journey we all feel deeply for someone. Some of us will act on that wheeling up of desire and proclaim it to the one that has captured our affection. Some do it in words, others in actions, some in a letter. Others keep their feelings close to their chest, never revealing the passion that is stirring within them. 
Whether or not you have ever made a declaration of love, chances are you have felt it inside of you and chances are you have desired that the other person would take the risk and proclaim the feeling first. You've wanted a love letter. 
You've wanted to get mail. 
In You've Got Mail the whole premise of the movie is based on wanting to hear the confirmation that this other person who you've fallen for and who your heart is yearning for, is thinking of you and is yearning for you in return. Neither person comes out and admits to such feelings, at least not right away. So instead they are holding onto inbox messages that keep their dream of mutual affection alive. With each new message comes a renewed hope that, yes, this person has a desire for me. My feelings are not just mine, but they are his as well. 
The greatest part of the movie is the end. If you've never seen it (which would be hard for me to believe) then I won't give it away. But as I'm sure you can figure out by my love of happy and not scary movies, the ending is a good one. There is a happily ever after. Blue birds do fly. There is a rainbow. Love wins out. 

Maybe you are like me today. You have felt love in the past and you took the leap of faith to proclaim it, declare it and act on it. But the ending wasn't a happily ever after fairy tale like you had hoped. Yet your desire to share love with someone still blooms within you, even if the love affair with a particular person does not. As Meg Ryan says, "there is the dream of someone else..." Maybe, like me, you are hanging onto that dream. 
My message to you, dear dreamer, is to hold on and not give up. I can't promise you that your dream will ever be fulfilled. I can't guarantee that mine will be either. None of us can. But I can assure you that your dream is a worthy one. Love is always a worthy cause. Love is always worth desiring. 
There is no perfect love this side of heaven. We must face reality and know that if we do reach a time in our life where love is felt and returned, that love will be imperfect. It will be flawed. But that doesn't mean that it can't be beautiful, so keep desiring it. Keep your heart open to being blessed by that imperfect human love. 
In the meantime, don't forget to read the love letters you already have in your inbox. No, not that inbox. A dial up or even a DSL connection is needed to receive these letters. The love letters that are awaiting you are right on your book shelf, tucked away in the scriptures that God has written for you. They are a passionate, intimate, burning letter of love and devotion.
Today, as you go through the routine of your day, dwell in the beauty of the words written for you. Here are just a few that God has penned to you, sent via the Holy Spirit in the form of ancient scriptures, meant for you today, tomorrow and forever. They are true for all of time, filled with as much passion now as they were the day there sentiment was scribbled onto paper. In them you will find  all the love letters your heart could ever imagine, more abundant and beautiful then any e-mail inbox could ever hold. 

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—

Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Psalm 107:8-9   Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,  for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Psalm 103:11   For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 

Lamentations 3:22-23   The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;is mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.