The Married Life
Letter writing is a meaningful way to communicate, to share life, to encourage and to show gratitude. Letter writing takes time and effort. These days emails and texts have largely replaced handwritten notes, but there remains a special place for letter writing.
In the Bible, Peter, Paul, John, Jude and James all wrote letters to the Christian communities, letters which were inspired by the Holy Spirit and are instrumental for Christians today. They address Christians as “beloved,” “friends” and “brothers and sisters.” Their letters are practical, encouraging, exhorting and most of all, loving.
John writes to us: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 Jn 4:11) One way to show love is through letters and personal notes.
As a youth I used to write letters more frequently, without realizing how much they meant to others.
One winter I wrote a letter and a poem to my grandparents, expressing my love and joy at spending time with them at their summer home in Michigan. My grandfather saved these, and one evening the following summer he read the poem to the whole family at the dinner table. He had tears in his eyes.
I realized then how much it meant to him that I expressed my gratitude for such a great gift.
My parents always taught me to send a thank-you note to people who gave me presents. So after our wedding, I spent several months writing thank-you letters to everyone who gave us gifts, preferring to take my time rather than write in haste. One woman commented to my mother that it was the most meaningful thank-you note she had ever received.
The most special letters I ever received were the ones my husband wrote to me when he was on a Navy ship on a six-month cruise at sea. Letter writing was our main mode of communication, and we wrote to each other every day.
I treasured those letters. He gave a narrative of what was happening on the ship, the ports they went to, and his duties as the ship’s medical corpsman. He also included pictures he drew for the children.
During those early years of marriage I also used to write to my in-laws. Unbeknownst to me, my mother-in-law kept those letters, which she showed me in the last year of her life. She said she loved to re-read them.
I had stopped writing letters long ago as our lives got busier, but seeing how much the letters meant to her made me wish I had written more frequently throughout the years.
Now I belong to a women’s group where we celebrate each other’s birthdays by going out to lunch, and rather than giving presents, we give cards to the birthday person, honoring them with handwritten words of appreciation. These cards are a source of blessing for us all. Many of us save the cards and re-read them as a source of encouragement.
St. Peter wrote: “Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt 4:8).
Handwritten letters and notes remain a memorable way to express our love and appreciation for one another.
Above: Reuters / CNS file photo