Strong bonds were formed that summer. We were crusaders who were determined to be a community of believers who would hold each other up as we all navigated our destinies. It was a crazy world and we were going to make it through. This was the summer that I took up letter-writing. So did about half of our musketeer group. I wrote around 35 letters per week. Every morning I would drop a few of those letters into our mailbox, flip up the little red flag to alert the postman that they should stop, and then I would wait. Anticipation would build around three o’clock, the time when he would roll up over our hill and stop to take my messages to the world and to hopeful to bring an envelope or two with my name scrawled on the front. You see, these handwritten epistles were written by someone who was thinking of me when they took the time to put their pen to paper.
We wrote for a year. Some got busy and drifted away, but many of us kept in touch for several years following that summer of our youth. Eventually my life changed too, and I got “too busy” to write down all of those thoughts. So, individual letters became quarterly newsletters catching everyone up and sending generic greetings. And then the newsletters became a Christmas or New Year’s letter to share the year-at-a-glance. I always felt sort of sad and usually found a way to jot a short note in my own handwriting at the bottom of the page.
Then there was the advent of “My Space” and I began to reconnect to people with whom I had long-since lost touch. One-by-one – one brief not at a time. When Facebook hit the scene, I was skeptical. It just seemed so public and shallow. But then a funny thing happened. I was invited to teach at a summer worship intensive (a lot like camp only way better!). I made new friends from around the world and I wanted to keep in touch, so they persuaded me to join the cyber world. It was powerful to have this “space” where we could message one another to encourage our hearts, to share what was happening in our world at home, and to ask for prayer when it was needed.
Again, over time, it seems like life has changed us once again. Lengthy hand-written letters gave way to messages and chatting on facebook and in email. Paragraphs of personal notes became brief comments on a facebook status. And when the notifications got cumbersome, we learned to click “Like” so we can get on with life without engaging too deeply. We have become mere bystanders on the edge of each other’s lives. We “tweet” instead of talk. We no longer take time to participate with one another. We no longer measure the depth of our relationships by time spent together or thinking of one another, but rather by counting the number of “hits” on our page. People slip on and off our “friends” list and we don’t even acknowledge them with anything more that the click of a button.
I have a friend who is very hard to catch up with. But what I love are his voice messages. He will call and leave a seven minute voicemail telling me all about life. It is really very much like a conversation. He even leaves space in his messages for me to “answer” his questions. It is quite comical but he reminds me that the personal touch is still better than the computer click. I have two friends who write me beautiful cards and drop them in the mail. I cannot tell you the joy that I feel inside when I open the mailbox at the end of a long day and am greeted by my own name handwritten on an envelope. I have taken up letter-writing again. Not 35 per week, but a dozen every month. I hope that the personal touch of pen to paper brings that same joy to another person’s heart. You may think I am “old school,” but I think we should stay connected by more than just a button on a computer or phone. This is my challenge for the week. Pick up the phone, pick up a pen and paper, or write a paragraph and stick it in a personal chat on facebook this week.
Connect. Engage. Make it personal.