A pair of good friends, devoted Christ-followers, joined us for dinner one evening. Our conversation deepened from chatty to heartfelt when I asked the husband a question.
“Larry, tell us about your relationship to Jesus Christ? How did it begin?” I really wanted to know.
A quiet, reflective man, he thought a while before answering. Then the atmosphere became fragrant with faith as he told us about the letters that changed his life.
Words can do that, no matter how they come.
I’ve published over a thousand columns and articles, plus a few books along the way, but I’d rather spend time writing a long letter to a friend than almost any other writing. People tell me that some of my published words have changed lives, but few know that much of my writing gets its inspiration from letters – some written to me, some by me.
Sadly, thanks to technology, written communication between friends and family has almost entirely dwindled to abbreviated back-and-forths. That’s not all bad. Some of us need our words curtailed. But even when there’s reason for a longer letter or email, not many people take time for thoughtful writing.
Who still bothers describing the weather in a letter or email? There’s an app for that. Even more rarely do emails or texts report one’s inner landscape. We leave that up to funny little faces called emojis, inserted with a tap – except for the moments when anger (or another overwhelming emotion) sends our frantic fingers leaping over the keyboard before rational thought has time to apply the brakes.
Angry letters change lives too – often for the worse. Someone wise once told me never to send a nasty letter. Livid words, whether on paper, emailed or texted, merely document the writer’s temporary insanity. Like a boomerang, they often return to strike the sender. And whether in a court of law or the court of life, harsh letters can bring a self-inflicted sentence of pain and regret.
Not so the words in the letters sent to Larry. Each time he opened one, he found words that blessed him.
As a younger man, Larry showed no interest in God. But he kept thinking of the letters. Kind words from a woman who knew Jesus well and loved Larry just about as much as anyone else in his life. Words penned by his grandmother, a woman of deep Christian faith. While his father, a regular churchgoer, was often authoritarian and judgmental, using his bible mainly to correct his son, Larry’s grandmother showed him a different way to live out her faith.
For years she wrote him regularly. Handwritten, loving letters filled with newsy bits and insightful comments. She always included some favourite scripture verses, and her words always lifted him.
“God chased me down through my grandmother’s letters,” he told us. “I learned to know Jesus Christ through her life and her words.”
Change someone’s life this week – write a loving letter, and don’t leave out your faith.
