I John 1
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4We write this to make our joy complete.
I remember that after we lost Adrienne, I struggled for a long, long time with how to use my time. I had been so busy with a two little boys and a brand new baby girl. My days were packed with changing diapers, nursing Adrienne, taking walks, playing with the boys, and so many other "mommy" things.
Suddenly, the crib was empty. My arms ached to hold my chubby little baby.
Erich and Evan couldn't understand why Adrienne couldn't come back.
The boys would say things out of the blue that caused my heart to break all over again.
I remember Evan, who was only two at the time, would often say, "Feed Adjun, Mommy," like he couldn't understand how Adrienne was okay without me feeding her.
Our days changed from walks around the neighborhood to walks through the cemetary,
from going to friend's houses just to play to going to houses where life was more normal so the boys could be entertained while I worked through my sadness.
But I don't think I really started to "pull out" of my grief until I started noticing others who were hurting.
It wasn't until I started encouraging others that I began to feel encouraged.
I bought stationery and began sending notes to friends and in those notes I began to find some kind of strength and joy.
A week or so ago, I was digging through some old papers to work on a class project when this note fell from a notebook. I received this note in 2004 and somehow it had been placed in one of my graduate school notebooks.....for such a time as this.
As I read the note for the first time in nearly 5 years, so many memories came back to me of a different time in my life. Memories of a different season when I had different struggles. Memories of a friend who has now moved to Michigan. Memories of a simpler time in some ways.
As I read the note, I realized that once again God is calling me to reach out.
He gently reminded me of the power of a simple hand-written note.
Words transcend time and, once written, can be used again and again to minister and share love.
I love the passage above from I John not only because the writer is wanting to share the power of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life, but I love it even more because in verse 4 he says that "we write so that OUR joy may be complete!"
Not just the joy of the reader.
But also the joy of the writer!
I guess today my challenge is for each of us to think of someone who is struggling and then pick up a little card and "write" a note of love....
Through that note we may not only encourage a friend, but we may also make our own.....
JOY COMPLETE.
Looking for my stationery,
5 Comments:
What a simple but profound - and beautiful truth! The impact of just a couple words....can last for years!
I've been catching up on your blog and just loved Friday's post. I'd never heard of Basket of Hope - and it is so exciting to see God opening doors of opportunity (as well as healing) for you! God is, indeed, at work...
Looking forward to seeing all He has planned in the days ahead! Love ya, friend. Jennifer
Such words of wisdom. Our generation doesn't send handwritten notes like our mothers and grandmothers did. My mother used to write letters to people all the time, and that is the one memory people share with me about her is how she took the time to hand write these beautiful letters. They were cherished and saved for many years. One made its way to me through an aunt who had kept it and thought I might like to have it. It was just an "ordinary" snapshot of her day, at the time-- she was going through chemotherapy, and had taken the time to write my aunt and had written that my sister and I were busy playing with our dolls in the next room. My grandmother also was a big letter writer and I kept all the letters she wrote me from when I was a child. I still get them out and read them, the other day as a matter of fact-- the stamp on one was 5 cents!
And one more funny thing, before I came here and read your blog today, I sent off an email to you, entitled "Just a quick note"! I guess we were on the same wavelength today.
Thanks for the challenge. When we focus on encouraging others---God lifts us up.
It's just so opposite what the world would tell us to do, hey?
God bless--and now I need to decide who God is calling me to write a note to!
Tammy, you are so right about how just a few words of encouragement can impact a person's day! After Malorie went to Heaven, another teacher who had lost her son in the past year and written to tell me that I would survive, because that's what Mal would want. I would just have to pray to God everyday, she told me to "pray harder than I have ever prayed before", and Christ would see me thru.
Grace 2 U,
natalie
Tammy, this is so true!! When I first became ill I sent my nieces out to buy all the cool stationery they could find so that I could write notes. They bought $75 worth of it, thinking they'd take some back. Are you kidding me? I love paper and kept it all.
There is almost nothing more precious to me than words written to me. I save them all. I believe in our times of grief or loss we can be used tremendously in the lives of others to encourage.
I know that you have been such an encouragement to me through your written words on here. Now I will wait for my note in the mail!!!!
Love ya,
Sheryl
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