Writing Letters

I write letters. I know there aren't many people who still write letters. People are too busy.  It is faster to send a text or an email message - a quick note. Stamps are too expensive. I think there is benefit in writing letters. Both for the writer and the reader.

For the writer it provides the time invested in writing a letter. During the time it takes to write a letter to someone, the writer is spending time thinking of the receiver. I often spend that time in prayer for the letter recipient. I think about what that person enjoys, what that person does, and what I can say that will be of interest or of comfort.

For the letter recipient it involves finding the letter in the mailbox. It's not a bill or an ad! There is curiosity until the letter is opened, wondering what it says. There is the time of opening the letter and the time spent reading the letter. It relieves loneliness for a moment, giving the recipient something to think about.

Daniel was recruited to read the mysterious writing on the wall that appeared for King Belshazzar. 

"Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lamp stand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way,"(Daniel 5:5-6 NIV). 

The King couldn't read the message on the wall so Daniel was brought in to interpret the writing on the wall. It read: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. The message wasn't good for the King. You can read the meaning of the inscription in Daniel 5:25-26. 

Is there someone you know in need of a letter this week? Maybe you can find the time to write a letter to that person. Give them a surprise in their mailbox and make their day.