The Letters in Our Life

by Kaylie Hodges

I am a terrible picture taker.

I mean that in everyway possible. I forget to do take pictures all the time. When I do remember to take pictures heads are always cut off and the light always washes people out. It just isn’t a good thing.

So instead I use my words.

I know. So old fashioned.

For me it is so much easier to write down our memories than try to capture them during the blur of the moment, or as it were, the blur of my camera lens. So I get out pen and paper and scratch it down.

Over the years I developed a habit of writing letters. Not the kind that require envelopes, stamps, and a trip to the post office because I’m really not responsible enough for that, but notebooks and blog posts full of letters.

The letters I write mark milestones and bring to mind special moments. Each of my children gets a letter on their birthday, I have private letters for them in journals, and I write a short letter to my husband almost everyday.

So why am I telling you about this little quirk of mine? Well, because you have some letters too. Your letters are the outpouring of your love that wants to leave a legacy.

Yours might not come out in letters, they might come out in pictures. I read a quote once that said “If you want to know what someone cares for then look at what they take pictures of.”

I believe that’s true.

We memorialize the love for the people in our life because we don’t want them to forget when we are gone.

 We put notes in lunchboxes and send quick text messages so that, whether someone is away from us for a few hours or forever, they don’t forget that they were loved.

A dim blue haze is creeping up the horizon outside my window, but I’m still squinting under a reading light. Yesterday I forgot that I was loved. I forgot that Someone was thinking of me. So this morning I’m reading my letters.

I crack open my big “King Jimmy” as one friend affectionately dubbed my old Bible that has pages falling out, and I read my letters.

I read letters that remind me of His love for me. I read letters that recall me to my mission. I read letters that won’t let me forget that He loves me and He has a plan for me.

I see pictures painted that don’t shy away from the hurt and the pain that I feel, I see this massive print of redemption being created and stamped on my soul.

Today, I encourage you to go read your letters when the day gets long and hard. When the moments seem to much, go to the memories stored there for you. Today as you write the letters in your life, go read the letters written for you.

To Connect With Kaylie and Read More Of Her Posts.

I like to share about all the glory that God shows me over at my blog kayliehodges.com. I write about faith, family, and funnies. I love to listen to stories, and tell tales of the beauty from ashes that is adoption, and often motherhood in general. I am currently working on a book about sharing lives and sharing faith!

http://kayliehodges.com/2014/08/09/just-a-little-perspective/

http://kayliehodges.com/2014/11/14/when-your-theology-doesnt-match-your-reality/