Life Letters
In a world of emailing, instant messaging, text messaging, and webcams, it’s difficult sometimes to imagine communication without all the latest and greatest technology. Nevertheless, letters used to be the only method of distant communication. In fact, before I was introduced to the world of text messaging, letter-writing was my primary way of talking to my best friend living in Florida. I have an unbelievable stack of letters I received in return from her.
The art of
letter-writing has almost disappeared from today as a form of keeping in touch
with distant friends and family, but there is one type of letter that
has not and never will become outdated- the letter of our lives.
I was pondering upon
the next scene I was going to share in the continuing story I have begun on the
lives of Joe and John, and as I decided upon the scene below, I was reminded of
the passage in the Bible in which Paul parallels our lives to letters. (2 Co
3:2&3) Like any letter, however, we
have a choice how our letter is going to read, what content we’re going to
display for our readers- the world. The
letters of our lives can bear a tone of optimism and joy in all circumstances
or it can bear a tone of pessimism and discouragement. It can tell of the wonderful things the Lord
is doing in our lives or it can tell of our let-downs and disappointments.
What you choose
to share in your letter can make and will make an impact on those
around you. When you’re around someone
that is always looking on the downside of situations, it’s a little difficult
to keep the smile on your own face and continue looking on the bright side,
isn’t it? The sun can be shining, but
once the clouds begin to form, it makes it difficult for the sunlight to
continue shining through. It’s easy to
allow the things of the world to discourage us and get us down, but such a dark
world will never see the light if we’re only pointing them to the
rainclouds. “In the same way, let your
light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father
in heaven.” (Mt 5:16) We live in a world
burdened with hopelessness. If the life
letters of believers tell of the same discouragement, why should they want any
part of us and our Father in Heaven? It’s
easier to go with the flow than against it, and likewise it’s easier
sometimes to join in the pity-party of hopelessness and discouragement in the
world, but don’t allow yourself to become entangled in its snare. Our God is a god of hope and of joy! Allow Him to purge your mentality from any
discouragement and write your life letter again as a message of hope for this
dark world.
With a heavy
sigh of exhaustion, John took a seat at the table, retrieved a fresh sheet of
paper, and picked up his pen in the dim lamplight piercing the darkness. The pen of black ink slowly made its way
across the paper as he began the letter.
My dear Amy,
I
received your letter this morning.
Chris’s picture put a smile on my face.
Tell him for me that I loved it and have it on display where I can see
it every day. I’m doing well, holding
out. Our base is well-supplied; there’s
nothing I’m lacking except for my family.
I miss you all more than you know and I’m counting down the days until I
can come back on leave for a visit…
And on the other
side of the barracks sat a young man…
A few weeks ago
I met a man named John Carpenter here on the base. He’s in my platoon and got here about the
same time I did. He’s been in the
military for eleven years already and had to leave his family back home in
Atlanta. Dad, I know you’ll be glad to
hear that he’s really strong in his faith and has been a great guy for me to be
around. He’s really been an
encouragement to me.
Mom, I’m still
reading my Bible every day. Thank you
for sending me a bag of your cookies.
They’re already gone. They were
so great, I had to hide them from the other guys.
I thought of you
today, Froggy. I saw a girl here on the
base whose hair was naturally as stick-straight as you spend hours to get your
hair like. Of course she can’t do much
with it as long as she’s in the military though. I know I used to make a big deal about the
mess you’d leave on the bathroom counter and the fumes from your flat-ironing,
but truthfully, I wish I had to clear off all your hair goops and gadgets
again. I guess the novelty of being
here’s wearing off a little.
I’ll try to call
you all tomorrow night, and I’m sending you a picture in an email when I finish
here. I know email’s a lot faster, but
it just isn’t the same as writing and getting a letter in the mail. Thanks for all your prayers. I think about you guys all the time.
With Love,
Your son and
brother Joe
~We’ve all heard of the phrase “pulling on her/ his heartstrings,” but heart-chords? I was struggling to decide what to name my blog. I wanted it to be a name that was both creative and meaningful. As I pondered, my gaze fell upon my acoustic guitar where it stands in my bedroom, and the Lord reminded me that our hearts- our lives- are instruments. They are constantly in song, but what melody our heart plays is each of our own decisions. They can play a melody for praise or for entertainment. A musician selects his songs according to his audience. So do we. Whether our audience is the world or the Lord, our song will be different. This blog is designed to first, increase my awareness in finding God and His guidance in my every day and second, to share the music lessons He teaches me in tuning my heart to learn the chords of praise He longs to play on my heart-instrument. Music is a powerful tool. Use it for His glory. “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:3
I love reading the letter of your life here as you glorify God and encourage others.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragment from a fellow blogger, Aunt Deborah! I'm always logging onto your blog as well and love reading about what's going on in your life and your family. :)
Delete