The Beauty of Letter Writing is the heart of this blog to describe the beauty of living in the present moment and how letter writing is a gift for others and ourselves. The beauty lies with gratitude -- the stillness of the moment. My greatest challenge, and from others I meet, is our fast and furious culture and trying to live in the moment. I have noticed many people live in the past, sometimes even dwell in it, and then miss what is, the present moment. For the life of me I don't understand how people keep sight of what is truly important. When I go back and reread my collection of letters, I can clearly see, at the time a letter was written, it appeared to be a very contemplative time for the writer, filled with emotion, imagination, profound thoughts, truth, healing, beauty of a day, time, or event, longing, love, and/or interior peace. Yet, our fast paced lives and modern technology have somehow circumvented all that is important about communication on a human level. Emoji's took away our time to doodle or draw in the margins, press a bright maple leaf in all its autumn finery & slip it in a letter, or a ten dollar bill with a homemade birthday card to our grandchildren. With all the noise and information overload can we sustain a contemplative life thinking and breathing in a moment? I'd rather think of Maya Angelou who lived life in the present moment with passion, and pen and paper in her as she observed the glory of a new morning when she wrote the poem On the Pulse of Morning
and reminds the reader the gift of another morning. Mary Oliver a poet and naturalist, with eye for faith, reminds us of Why I Awake Early. On a pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy I heard the canticle of St. Francis in the breath of the wind and the song of the birds. I came to know this moment changed my heart and inspired me to seek a way to communicate what I was experiencing in the present moment.
Doodling, photographs, collages, pressed leaves&flowers, pages of old books or paper, have always found their way in my letters over the years. I have a box full of old letters: love letters from my dad to my mom from the war, letters from kids in all stages of life, cards from my grandmother, touching letters from friends during times of great celebration and those of sadness. Even those, like my husband, who has trouble with words, set pen to paper on his business trips to write to me and the boys. I also have another treasure chest of letters sent to me by a former student. Above all I am his spiritual mom and my other roles have changed over the years, except for one. We always write letters to one another. That box is letters in all shapes and sizes and full of creative moments in the last 15 years or so. There is also a notebook filled with many letters from students, their parents, and grandparents that give me such joy and a way to imagine who they are today. What I didn't know was that as a collection they would bring me a place of vocation.
Collectively, the letters are leading me down a path of celebrating the art of letter writing. The Holy Spirit has been leading me to this space inspiring me to start this small group of letter writers. With this guidance I hope we can strengthen relationships with others and most importantly with God. Sharing our joy through creativity and letter writing will hopefully become a blessing to others. We hope to learn from one another, find companionship in pen and paper ( or perhaps typewriter), and see where our creativity takes us. Cliche as it seems it might just be a random act of kindness. We pray with help of the Holy Spirit that we will be inspired by faith to be present in the moment, and open our hearts to a deeper place.
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