The Lost Art of Letter Writing

The other day I sat down to write a few letters to the members of the youth group. Each year on the mission trip the youth group members receive letters to read each night. Ever since I first went on a mission trip with the church to New Orleans four years ago I loved this tradition of receiving letters. On the trips I would receive letters from members of the community and other leaders of the youth group. Since I will not be able to be on the mission trip this year, and it is my last year with the youth group, I wanted to be able to continue to be a part of the tradition of the letter writing. The mission trips with New Wilmington Presbyterian Church are such beneficial and life forming trips, and these letters are a formative part of the trip.

Once I began writing the letters though, I realized how tired I became. Now, part of this was probably due to the fact that I was a week out of school and was not used to writing, but that couldn't have been all of the reason for me being tired. I then realized that it had been a while since I had written a letter. Real letters, letters that you can hold in your hand, put in your pocket, save and read over and over again, use as bookmarks; these letters take work, and I was "out of shape." Real letter writing takes practice, time, and effort. I wouldn't write a letter like I do an e-mail, letters are full of emotion with different hand writing, on different paper, and different formats.

While I did become surprisingly tired from writing about twelve letters, I enjoyed the experience. When writing my letters I was not at a computer, but was sitting at a table, drinking coffee, listening to music. Letter writing was not only a time to share with others, but also a time for me to be silently reflective. I hope to continue this practice more frequently, maybe a few times a month at first and then weekly. I would urge anyone to write letters as well. Is there anyone that you have been wanting to talk to, wanting to catch up with, see how they are doing, or just share with them events of your life? You may be out of shape of letter writing at first, but the only way to get "in shape" is through working out. So when the pulls and tugs of letter writing come, sit down, turn off the tv and computer, cuddle up with a cup of coffee or tea and get out your pen and paper; take time to yourself and just write.