letters, letters.

'you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. you show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.' second corinthians chapter three, verses two and three.

there's something to be said about a good old fashioned letter.

i treasure letters. i have a box full of love letters. i have a box full of letters from my best girlfriend. i have a box full of letters written to me by brothers and friends near and far. and i have three journals filled with letters to the One who loves me most.

letters. the smell, the feeling of getting one in the mail, the sense of nostalgia i get when tearing one open in this now email/text message/twitter/non-personal world.

the written word.

it's... purposeful. passionate. indelible. lasting. beautiful.

here i am with all these fun letters to go back and read anytime i want to, and a lot of times i do...

and then there's a 1,048 page letter sitting to the left of my bed staring me in the face every morning when i wake up. sometimes it's not as fun to read that letter. because tossed in with the whispers of love to me from the ultimate romancer, are words that make me uncomfortable when mixed with the word "others"... forgive. love. don't judge. don't fear. be kind to. care for...

and these mix-ins make me feel like i'm not quite making the cut. but how much further could i be from the truth?

brennan manning said, "Jesus did not say this on Calvary, though He could have, but He is saying it now: 'I'm dying to be with you. I'm really dying to be with you.'"

so tomorrow morning, i think i'll pick up my the heaviest letter i've ever received, and marvel at the pages of love, knowing that Jesus is dying to be with me... even if i'm not so great at loving, forgiving, not judging, not fearing, showing kindness to, or caring for others.