Not being overly sentimental, I don’t always keep things to commemorate events and highlights. One thing that I do keep, however, is some of the handwritten notes, just a few, that people have sent me over the years. It means something that someone took the time to write a note of thanks or encouragement and sent it to me.
Over time our understanding of correspondence has changed. Writing a letter was once a cherished and important tradition. Intellectuals and noblemen took time to handle their correspondence with care. Anyone who has been to Monticello, the estate and home of Thomas Jefferson, will recall his unique and creative mechanism created to help him write his letters and have duplicates made. Writing notes and letters was part and parcel of his life, as it was with other great thinkers.
Somehow, writing letters became something of the past and we have moved onto emails, texting, and phone calls to do our daily business. The mail has become something we often dread, delivering bills and junk mail.
Now with mail becoming more expensive and apparently slower, using the mail to deliver correspondence will likely become even more rare. Processes like this change and morph and we move on.
However, this leaves an open opportunity for you to create a special habit. The habit of doing something extravagantly kind, thoughtful and loving. Taking the time to sit down, write out your thoughts, crafting a great note where each word is useful and powerful, and sending it through the mail to a friend. It’s even better if you use great paper, with a nice pen.
You might say: “I can just send an email”. Yes, you certainly could. But the fact that you could do something easier, faster and with no cost to you, and yet you still choose to take the time to write a note will say something about how much you care.
Are there five people in your life that you could bless with a handwritten note, to express your love and encouragment to?
David Curry
