CORRESPONDENCE

[Pamela Jones]

This is a topic that I have pondered over for many years and wanted to address.

Writing letters to a dear friend, passing a small note to a loved one, etching you and your lovers name on a common landmark, signing your name on precious documents, placing your signature on critical papers, engraving an epitaph, detailing your favorite car or truck, footprints marking the sand, placing graffiti on city walls, sketching a landscape or painting a portrait, are just some of the ways we express ourselves as healthy human beings.

We find healthy balance expressing emotions and common values to one another. Leaving our mark, for others to view, is important for humans. We hope to leave behind a positive reminder for all to view.
Oh, how delightful it is to greet someone with a humorous quip and a small joke. How endearing it is to receive an encouraging note from someone so dear to your heart.
How daring it is to pass an incriminating message in the classroom. How embarrassing when certain parties discover the revolting slander.

I am older now and can look back when correspondence was handwritten. We did not have the luxuries of modern technology as found today. Phone calls weren't as personal a conveyance as a beautiful handwritten letter from a beloved family member or friend. Everyone was filled with anticipation when the mail delivery person arrived. I remember they used to be called mailmen. But, today, that is not counted as politically correct.
Every household member wanted to see just which family member received mail, from where and from whom.
Siblings teased and jested another sibling if they received a letter from a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Nothing was sacred.
It was all considered fun in the game of family life.
Excitement bubbled within as the crisp letter lay in our hands. The smell of the paper and the ink and the postage stamp filled your nostrils. As you ran your hand and fingers alongside the envelope, you could almost sense the authors presence standing next to you. As your fingers grasped the sides of the envelope, while another carefully opened the once sticky edge, you were reminded that the lips of your beloved softly kissed where you now have touched. Your heart is overcome with love and you begin to cry.
As you begin to read the words of your beloved, your realize their thoughts are heartfelt.
Ink and paper are the only way for them to communicate their heartfelt message.
You can sense the authors presence right close to you.

I know this may sound outlandish and probably a little romanticized, but receiving a handwritten letter from a dear friend or beloved family member was precious indeed. You could feel the love coming through the paper and the ink. After reading the gentle words of your beloved, there was a comfort that engulfed you as you embraced both the envelope and handwritten script. For many hours after, you could be found grasping the gift of love.

This experience may be something many young persons in our community may never embark upon. And, perhaps, many of us older folk have long forgotten as we now embrace an "ipod" or "bluetooth" or some other modern high-tech device while swiftly text messaging our heartfelt love message and daily agenda to our beloved, as we fiercely drive throughout the city, highways and byways wondering how time quickly fades away.
We are too busy to find time to sit and handwrite a loving word to our beloved.

I had a dear Christian friend who would handwrite letters and cards and small notes to any who she sensed needed an encouraging word or a gesture of confidence, a comforting thought or just an uplifting scripture. If she had your address, you knew you could count on her to send you one of these very dear handwritten gifts.
She was a nurse, but was unable to be employed outside her home. You see, her dear father was suffering from a life threatening illness and she was his primary caregiver. So, my friend wanted some way to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus to any and all she could. Handwritten letters and cards was her way of communicating the good news to others. I learned she had handwritten over 30 cards and letters each week. She asked the Lord, who needed a kind word or an encouraging memo to uplift their spirits for a particular seasonal trial.
Many times, without her knowing my need, I would receive a kind letter or card in the mail just at the right moment.
I had always wondered how she knew when I would need encouragement. God knew and she obeyed.
My friend had always desired a car. She could not afford a vehicle and the insurance but knew one day she would receive her desires.
Shortly after her father passed, she bought a car. She and her son would have greater freedom to roam about. One day, a friend asked her help moving her belongings to another city, 50 miles away. While on the highway, my friend somehow crossed over the meridian and caused a head-on crash with another van filled with a family of six.
When the emergency vehicles came to view the bodies, they found no trace of blood anywhere in my friends vehicle, and no bruising found on her body or other persons in the vehicle. They were bewildered, to say the least.
Her son's friend died that day. He was in the back seat of the vehicle. However, her son lived to carry on his mothers ministry.
At the memorial service, the church was filled with persons from various backgrounds and diverse cultures and economic status. My friend had many friends.

In a time when we choose to communicate through e-mails, texting and such, let us remember such messages are merely one dimensional. New tech messaging disallow personal feeling and personal heartfelt thought. The message is always one dimensional. Just printed words on a computerized page. I dislike this form of communicating to others. I find it to be impersonal and confining. We must find a way to be more accustomed, for this is the way of the millennium.
I am not yet accustomed to communicating in a social networking mode. Although, I enjoy the freedom of conveying my thoughts in this manner, I can't say that I enjoy it as well as face to face encounters where I can view body language and eye contact.
Communicating through high-technology doesn't grant us the heartfelt gestures and freedom of expression needed when conveying the essence of self.

Because I haven't had the opportunity to meet you face to face and greet you, sit down and chat, I hope to communicate as best I can without bringing harm.

I am reminded:
Proverbs 19:14---May my spoken words and unspoken thoughts be pleasing even unto thee, oh Lord, my Rock and Redeemer.

Proverbs 15:23---Everyone enjoys giving good advice and how wonderful it is to be able to say the right thing at the right time.

blessings to all
pamela

[James Lindquist]

Very touching and I enjoyed reading it Pamela. I have found my mom's diary while going through her stuff after her's and dad's passing, and just about didn't read it, but opted to do so. I was totally blessed by what I read. Her essence had been left behind for us. I cried the entire time while reading it. I enjoyed every little squiggle. GBY Pamel and thanks for sharing.