Sometimes I hate walking to the mailbox. I know the only thing that will be there is stuff I don’t want to see: bills, advertisements, catalogues, etc. Occasionally there is a package, but those usually come to the door. Didn’t there used to be a different use for the mailbox? Oh yeah, letters. I haven’t gotten a letter in forever.
I remember years ago. The summer my wife and I got together we would write letters to each other. I was away on a mission trip and missing her terribly. This was before we all had cell phones in our pockets and WAY before text messaging. We could email, sure, but to really express how we were feeling we wrote letters. I still have them. They are a wonderful snapshot in time.
I can think of three reasons that letter writing should still be practiced:
1. Writing out a message by hand makes you take more time. Some people would see this as a downside, but there are some benefits that can not be over looked. When we slow down to write by hand we think through what we are saying. We take time and make sure the message is right before we fold it up and send it off.
2. You are sending someone the gift of your time and touch. You have touched the paper. You have expressed your thoughts in a very tangible way. It is a personal exchange from you to them.
3. It is outside the norm. Digital messages get lost in the shuffle. We all get multiple, sometimes hundreds, emails and texts every day. Writing a letter is a way you can cut through the noise and show you are thinking of them.
I will admit, I haven’t written a letter in years. However, I am going to pull out pen and paper and do that very thing today.
David Willis 