Simple Things Matter

As a girl one of the things that I have always loved is pens, paper, notecards, stickers and STAMPS! I am not quite sure how the love began, but I remember being excited when it was time to go to school and I wrote on my BIG CHIEF TABLET with my oversized pencil! I have always loved going to the card and stationery section in any store and marveling at all of the beautiful designs and feeling the different textures of the paper. I loved to test different pens and learned which pen/paper combo complimented each other. I would choose pens and paper over clothes and shoes any day. Yes, I was weird and was okay with it.
My grandmother, Dolores Sanders Alvarado, fed my addiction of stamps by purchasing a roll at a time and letting me take as many as I wanted to mail letters to people. I accompanied her one day to the post office and saw that there were more stamps than just “flags” and asked her if she would buy some with hearts on them. And, she being loving, obliged. I loved going to her house and sitting in her back room at her little desk with markers and whatever new pen my Daddy bought me at TG&Y and I would draw pictures, make hearts and say “I LOVE YOU”. I would then be so proud to walk to the post office in El Reno and give them personally to the post master for delivery.
What fueled my desire to continue writing notes was getting a letter in return from someone or seeing a recipient at church or in the community who would be so grateful that I “remembered” them. At age 9 years I mailed 100 letters in one month including to people I didn’t know at nursing homes and hospitals. I didn’t care if they knew who I was, but as a child I knew there was something about the feeling of getting a letter in the mail that had your handwritten name on the envelope. I knew how much I loved getting birthday cards in the mail and I wanted other people to feel that way too.
I learned at an early age that no matter what your ability, there IS something you can do to lift someone else up. I didn’t have money. I didn’t have a phone. I didn’t have transportation, but I did have a grandmother who was more than willing to help me by simply asking her. I had a Daddy would supply my paper and pens in bulk because it was a good deal! But most importantly I had the will to want to help.
As I got older, life changed, shifted and evolved, I sent less and less letters and cards. I became more caught up with myself and my aspirations. But, the desire of that simple act has never left me, but I pushed it to the side because I was “busy”. I do now have money. I do have transportation. I have more phones than I care to admit to and I have still have the desire to help…but, what’s is stopping me from fulfilling it? Answer: TIME.
God has expanded my territory and I am helping in other ways, but this one simple act still beckons me. We live in fast world where pausing even for five minutes to think of others seems taxing. We’ve converted from snail mail to email, text messages and emoji’s. All of those tools are wonderful, but my soul desires more. I want to truly connect with another person and give them something tangible as a reminder they are remembered and loved. I know to create the connection with another human being, I must stop, think and become intentionally present to remove myself from my “busy-ness” and slow down to be a beacon of light and hope to someone else.

God says in His Word:
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5 NKJV). Soooooo…. I am. I am sending a note to a couple of people today, just because.

Question: Is there something you used to do in the past that you’ve fallen away from that God is calling you back to? If so, what’s stopping you from fulfilling it?

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