This year, for my New Year’s resolution, I decided that I would look for ways to revive some “old school” ways. I wanted to lay down my cell phone a bit more and break the horrible addiction of checking for emails and comments…to simplify things and relish the slow lane of life a little more often.

In January and February we brought back the jigsaw puzzle and my husband and I enjoyed several long hours of quiet solidarity pouring over and sorting through pieces. It was fabulous to turn off the T.V. and all the controversy in the news and relish the quiet.

In March we hooked up our old stereo and searched through the treasured box of L.P.s in our basement. We both decided there is something very special about listening to records and it was a pleasure to hunt through the local antique stores and find artists of the past to listen to over dinner. Memories of childhood and adolescents came flooding back and it was amazing how we still knew all the words to our favorite songs.

April was filled with travel and reconnecting with old friends. Lovely to know that you are loved by people who knew you in childhood. Long conversations and shared memories were in abundance.

This brings me to May and June and a beautiful day I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from a new friend. It was a nice long letter, totally filling up both sides of two sheets of paper. This was especially nice because it came from someone I don’t have any connection with other than a mailing address…no phone number, no Facebook friend, just good old fashion snail mail. This letter came from an older lady that I had recently meet at a concert. It was a concert we were having to celebrate the life of her brother. So our only connect was our shared grief at his untimely death.

What struck me in all this was how wonderful it was to receive a letter from her! I had totally forgotten the pleasure of the surprise upon opening to carefully read and reread someone’e thoughts written to only you! Not posted some place for the entire world to see, but just you and I enjoyed reading the letter to close family and picking out my favorite parts.

What really struck me in all of this is that after a time I began to reflect on the letter and really think about how I would like to reply. I began to form ideas and thoughts that I wanted to share and I was eager to put pen to paper and send my heart out into the unknown. The slower rhythm of it all was delicious and I resolved to keep it going over the year.

I don’t know if my new pen pal will ever write back, or if she will be into the art of letter writing, but I am really glad I rediscovered the pleasure of sitting down and writing a letter and I hope you will maybe decide to follow my lead and write to encourage or tell someone how you feel about them or maybe just tell them what is going on in your life… in an old school, snail mail, letter.

What old school things have you rediscovered lately?

May God’s peace be with you this week and always.

Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil…be filled with the Spirit. ~ Ephesians 15-16, 18b.