Blog: The Power of the Pen

This is a remarkable age. It’s the age of computers, apps, tweets, hashtags, emails, text messages, memos, etc.   I have fond memories of the day of the pen – there were cards, letters, and scrapbook pages, all written by hand.  I am most fond of the days of the good old fashioned letter.

In elementary school we had pen pals that we would write as a class activity. Sometimes the pen pals would be in another state or even overseas. As a matter of fact, sometimes the pen pal would be sitting right next to you passing notes in class.   I still have letters that I wrote to my husband while he sat at a table next to me. I would write a question and he would respond, and vice versa. This would go on for pages and pages.

What ever happened to the day of the letter? I rarely receive letters in the mail any more, and when I do, it is usually typewritten. Most communication I receive nowadays is in the form of an inbox, an email or a text message.  Imagine my delight when I received a handwritten letter two Sundays ago from my Co-Pastor at church.

Before I even read the letter, I noticed and felt a few things:

• The envelope was addressed to Sister Tameka. I immediately felt warm and loved.
• She cared enough to dedicate her precious time to me. (Sure, she wrote a letter to everyone in the church, but this letter was all mine and it spoke directly to me.)
• It was handwritten. There are no others. Just this one special original letter. Anything else is just a copy.
• Her handwriting made me feel she was happy to write the letter.

But then it happened… I read the letter and my entire spirit was lifted as I read and took notice of the curve of each letter knowing that I was touching the hand of the person who wrote it. This was not just a piece of paper printed from the computer. This letter took on a life of its own.

This got me to thinking about my scrapbook pages and how most of digital albums are typed. My hybrid albums tend to have a bit of handwriting in them, but not enough. I did a Video Tidbit a while back called Handwritten. It was all about getting your handwriting into your digital albums. Sure, it is not the same as a handwritten letter, but it is more personal than typed text. Check out the video and then add your own handwritten text to your albums.

But what I really want you to do is to pay it forward.   It was a wonderful feeling getting that handwritten letter when it was least expected. I would love for someone else to feel that way.   I plan on grabbing a sheet of paper and writing a heartfelt letter to someone who will not expect it.  Why don’t you join this movement with me?