Love Letters

In a red Pizza Hut gym bag in a burgundy trunk I took to college is every love letter Brad ever sent me during our college years. With no cellphones and long-distance calls costing so much, Brad and I wrote to each other as often as we could when we were apart at holidays or over the summer. Sometimes we wrote every single day. When I received a letter from my sweet beloved I would try to smell him in the paper, hold it close to my heart and ache to be with him. Some letters were pages and pages long and others were sweet little notes. One letter even included a cassette where Brad recorded himself for 30 minutes on one side and I recorded myself on the other. (Anton and Kayla got to hear part of this and we were all freaked out by how much Anton sounded like 19-year-old Brad). If you want to know about our love story, it's all pretty well detailed from Brad's point of view in that stack. I believe Brad has an equally large stack of letters from me. It's interesting for us to go back and read those letters. To learn what our priorities were, our outlook on life, our mushy, romantic words for one another and the details of our day to day lives. I cherish those letters. It's a unique step back in time.

Last year when I went to St. George Island with my sister for a week, Brad asked me to write him a letter every day and he would do the same. So each night before I went to bed, I wrote him a letter. We each had a nice stack to read when I got home.

In today's world, letters are becoming more and more a thing of the past. We have emails. We have texting. We have Facetime and Skype. And with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, communication is immediate. So there is no need to write a letter. To Brad and I as writers, that is kind of sad. Letter writing is a lost art. Emails and texts are regularly deleted, never to be read again. Not that they have to be, but what a sweet memorial to love they are! To read about Brad's love for me in the years 1983-87 up to our marriage date and knowing how much more I feel it even today is pretty uplifting and precious.

When Brad and I have long gone, our children will have access to those letters. And I am sure they are filled with some pretty embarrassing comments from the two of us. Will they ever read them? Maybe not. But they will have in their hands a forever record of how their parents felt about one another from the very beginning, how they handled time spent apart, how they lived for the days they were together, how they handled disagreements and the sweet memories of a long and beautiful love story and journey. The question is whether our not they will be able to decipher the handwriting.

I guess we would encourage you to write letters to one another. They don't have to be lengthy, but they will be a sweet memory for you. Don't hesitate to be mushy and share your feelings, your memorable moments, your dreams and goals, your day-to-day activities and deep love for one another. It's something you can hold onto for a long time. Pen to paper - the written word is a tangible, historical moment in time. Praising God we both have them from one another.

Discussion: When is the last time you received a note or letter from each other? What do written letters mean to you?

Prayer: Father, Your Word is the most beautiful love letter of all and we thank You for it! That we have it to hold and read over and over again is such a gift. Thank You for the gift of the written word. We love you. In Jesus, Amen.