“Those who give of their time and compassion will be blessed." ~ Proverbs 11:25
Grief punched Devon hard last
year. He watched his daughter battle bone
cancer, his father passed away after a debilitating illness and his faithful
dog of 16 years crossed the rainbow bridge.
Grief takes time; it can’t be rushed. He just had to work through the pain.
Friends were kind and supportive, sending frequent texts and
emails to console him. But it was the
handwritten letters he received that truly moved him.
His sister-in-law sent a touching article about how the loss
of our pets leaves a profound effect on us. She talked of her own heartbreak when she had
to put her cat to sleep. Her letter,
both thoughtful and empathetic, confirmed a deep understanding of what Devon experienced
with the death of his K-9 companion.
The second came from a church friend; a gracious and
generous woman. Devon admired her
because no matter what was going on in her life, she continually elevated others
with her gift of time and caring.
The shortest letter came from one of his students – a young
boy with autism. Communication of any
form was difficult for the boy, so his brief note was especially poignant. Its two-sentence note must have taken considerable
time to compose as he considered each word.
It was one of the most inspiring messages he’d ever read.
A well-written letter is priceless.
Devon preserved the writer’s words in a
special box; pulling them out when he needed to visit with the person whose
words graced that page.
With pen in hand, Devon was suddenly transported
back in time to elementary school as a child learning to write in cursive all
over again - focusing on the shape of letters, making sure that i’s were dotted
and t’s were crossed.
He relaxed when connecting letters to create the words
needed to express thoughts; amazed at how much longer it took to w-r-i-t-e out each
word than if he'd texted them in abbreviated code sans punctuation.
Which got him thinking: “If people had to hand write all
their emotional, dramatic, political posts, would there be as many of
them? Or would we just sign and scroll
past because it wouldn’t be worth the effort to respond by pen and paper?”
When was the last time you sent
a hand-written letter to a friend or loved one? How about today?
Heavenly Father, in today's crazy times, it’s
easy to become detached from our capacity as humans to be kind and thoughtful. Teach me to be more generous with my time,
more fluent in kindness; and more like You.
Amen
