(This is day fourteen of the Rediscovering the Christmas Season Advent Study that can be found here. You don’t have to start at the beginning. In fact, you can jump in any time or go in any order. Care to join?)
Read Acts 15: 22-31.
Buy or make a Christmas card for someone who has been a blessing to you this year. Spend extra time expressing what they mean to you.
Think of how meaningful letters like this must have been in the 1st century. What kids of communications do you use to express these kinds of thoughts today? I’m a card writer when it comes to that. And an email sender. I’m not so great with the phone calls, because I express myself more through writing. But I love to give cards. And receive cards. The problem with me lately is, I’ll buy a card and it will sit on my desk forever until I remember to mail it. I’m bad for that.
How do you think your card will make this person feel? Why do you think there is so much power in expressing your love to someone? Hopefully joyful and appreciated. In this world, we run around so much that we forget the simple things like a card or a letter. When my husband was in Iraq, even with all of the technology that exists today, our primary mode of communication was letters because of his remote location. Nothing was more treasured to either of us. And we poured our hearts out in ways we probably wouldn’t have in person. God know we needed that deeper level of communication that comes only through the handwritten word. I pray we don’t lose that with technology.
Jesus wrote us a really long letter called the Bible. What has been the most meaningful part of this letter to you? The fact that, no matter where I am or what is going on in my life, I can pick up that Book and find exactly what I need in the moment. Or, even better, God can have someone drop exactly what I need in my life when I’m NOT looking. Have we ever stopped to consider how awesome that is that He speaks every time we need Him to if we just look hard enough?
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
My letter is to my friend Jodie. Since I am working on my blog comments, and my brain is mush from watching the news all day today, I am just going to type my letter out and share it here.
Jodie, you have been so important in my life these past 2 years. It is crazy how you were the person from Fort Drum that God chose to drop back into my life. You have impacted me in ways that I can’t express. You have been a rock (even though you don’t always feel that way). You have showed me God’s love. You have showed me how to love. You have showed me how to pray. You have showed me what God’s grace looks like and means. You showed me what real and true surrender looks like. You have shared so much of yourself even when it was hard. When you stepped in and co-facilitated a bible study with me you helped me feel comfortable and know that we could do it. The doubts I had about myself melted away when you were near. Your blog and writing helped to refocus my quiet time with God. Without your blog and word Wednesday challenge, I would still not have read through the entire bible, cover to cover!
I love you for who you are and who you have helped me become. You have pushed and challenged me in non pushy or challenging ways. You are an amazing friend, mentor, and sister in Christ. I thank God for dropping you back into my world. When we all left Fort Drum I can honestly say that I hadn’t really thought much about you at all, and today I can’t imagine my world without you in it! Thank you for being you!
1. I love to send a card or letter whenever someone or something is really on my heart. I am not a good writer, but I find I can express myself much better in writing. I think a lot of that is that it is hard for me to share my feelings with others.
I am definitely a texter and facebooker, but I also love to communicate over the phone. Kids today have so much technology at their fingertips and they are more connected over social media than I can comprehend, yet study after study shows that kids feel more alone and isolated than ever before. We talked a lot about social media one night at the youth group I am involved with and it is scary how kids don’t know how to communicate outside of texting and instant messaging.
2. When I took part in the day where we were suppose to buy a gift for someone random, I enclosed a card expressing how much I appreciated the crossing guard for what she does, but more importantly for how she does it. She clearly has a heart for God and serving others. She does her job with such joy that I can’t help but smile every time I see her. Well, I left my business card in with the card and she called me to tell me how much she appreciated it (and the gift). I didn’t get to speak to her, but her message was amazing. It is so important to let people know how you feel about them because that simple note made such a difference to that woman that day. I don’t know her at all. I don’t know if she is married and has a family. Maybe she lives all alone and doesn’t have anyone to greet her at night and tell her she is loved…or maybe she does, that I don’t know. But either way, she now knows that there is a random person out there that loves and appreciates her.
3. I love that God’s word is timeless. There isn’t anything in His word that we can’t find an answer about. I love that sometimes one particular scripture will mean something to me one day and something very different another. I love when other’s share parts of His word with me and it is exactly what I needed to hear exactly when I needed to hear it. I love that no matter how many times you read a particular section, there is always something new to see or understand or be revealed.
Jodie says
I love you. And I needed that. And I am out of words right now because I can’t see through the tears.