Do you appreciate when someone writes you? I feel special when I receive a letter because someone took the time to connect with me. I love getting letters. In fact, I save them.
Saving letters must run in my family. My grandfather, a lieutenant commander in the Navy, was called to duty during World War II, leaving behind a wife and three young boys. He and my grandmother exchanged many letters to keep the family connected.
When my grandparents passed away, Dad inherited boxes of letters, not only written from Poppa Lee and Gran Jones, but the letters Dad wrote to them. The year Dad downsized his living space, he entrusted these letters to me. I’ve got their letters from 1943 through the 1970s. Can you imagine the family history at my fingertips? Here was my opportunity to learn about the lives of my grandparents, whom I hardly knew. And learning about Dad was a bonus.
My intentions were good. I’ve had these letters – 3,000 by conservative estimate – for seven years. I started a project of scanning them but stopped after 40 when I discovered my scanner liked having brittle paper for lunch. Then I entertained a goal of reading a letter a day, which was a lovely idea, but it didn’t happen. I talked myself out of it because I wanted to read them in chronological order, which would have meant going through all 3,000 of them. The letters remain unread.
This undertaking made me think about God and how He intentionally preserved His letters to us. I wonder if we appreciate that God has composed the greatest love letter ever written to mankind. God preserved His letters in the Bible because He wanted to show us how much He loves us. I have learned my legacy as part of God’s family by reading the Bible daily. I am certain that if I were as intentional about reading the letters of my family, I would be enriched with that legacy as well.
God has a series of letters waiting for us in the Bible. We’ve got mail, and it’s time to read it!
Blessings, Lee Ann
You are a good writer Lee Ann. I’m looking forward to your book!
Jh
Bless you, Jan! I am looking forward to growing our friendship!!
Blessings,
Lee Ann
What a lovely thought! And maybe someday you’ll have time to read those family letters chronologically. A real treasure.
No kidding! It is a real treasure, and once they are in chronological order, I will be intentional to read them.
Blessings,
Lee Ann
I really appreciate your metaphor about those letters. I also understand your desire and frustration at doing something about the valuable history sitting at your fingertips. I spent three+ months totally focused on doing the same thing with letters and postcards that my grandmother wrote and kept from 1895-1946. It was an amazing story, one that I put out on the Google clouds for my family, and printed an 80+ page booklet of these letters plus some history. It was an emotional and connective journey. I now am communicating with some “lost” family members. What fun we are all having learning about our shared past.
Thanks for your thoughts – and your endeavors! I am looking forward to the same payoff you’re experiencing in connecting family members and sharing our legacy. I’m impressed that you found the time to do all that work, and I’m sure your family appreciates it. I have been told to consider ancestry.com as a place to store these letters in addition to the USB sticks and clouds. Do you have any insight into that? The ancestry.com site supposedly preserves all these letters for generations to come.
I trust you’re healing well from your surgery.
Blessings,
Lee Ann