Love Letters

by Starr Ayers

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. — Phyllis Grissim-Theroux

I can still hear the rumble of the mailman’s car, the screech of its brakes as it pulled in front of our house, the scrape of the mailbox’s rusty hinges, and the hollow metal twang as it slammed shut. I can see my younger self racing down the drive, hoping to find an envelope addressed to me, a letter from someone I love. One with the ancient acronym S.W.A.K. (sealed with a kiss) penned across its flap.

We had no internet. No personal computers to connect, cell phones to text, or social media outlets to chat. The closest thing we had to instant messaging was our face-to-face gatherings at the soda shop. We danced the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, the Swim, and twisted the night away at a school sock hop. We attended church socials, visited our neighbors, and talked on the telephone—on party lines (shared with other customers), for heaven’s sake. We even wrote letters by hand with pen and paper. We didn’t know how primitive our ways of communicating were. Ignorance was bliss.

It would have been unthinkable for me to pull a love letter from the box and lay it on a shelf unopened. But isn’t this what we do with God’s love letter to us when we don’t read our Bibles? Only He knows what expressions of His love we miss.

Recently, as I sat with my Bible in my lap, I was saddened to see it was falling apart. But God reminded me that an unopened Bible that sits on a shelf saddens Him more. Its exterior is pristine; its pages smell new and still stick together. But an unused Bible hasn’t fulfilled its purpose, nor will we if we fail to read it.

My Bible has fallen apart and needs tender loving care, but it isn’t sad. A well-read Bible means a well-fed soul. Better my Bible falls apart than me. Although tattered, it’s beautiful to the Author of this Love Letter to humanity. Within its pages is an abundance of fruit—food for all. A place of shelter from storms and a table where every person is fed and fruit is produced.

As I looked at a section that had pulled away from the spine, my eyes fell on words highlighted in yellow:

I looked, and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong, and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the wild animals found shelter, and the birds lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed. Daniel 4:10-12 NIV

This article is brought to you by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (AWSA).

About the author: Starr Ayers is a third-generation artist, an award-winning author, Word Weaver, Jesus follower, incurable night owl, java junkie, rainbow chaser, Bible study leader, retreat speaker, and an avid iPhone photographer. She’s authored two time-slip novels, For the Love of Emma and Emma’s Quest, and recently co-authored Room at the Table: Stories of Encouragement from Special Needs Families with Stephanie Pavlantos. She can be reached at starrayers@triad.rr.com or through her Bringing Life into Focus website https://starrayers.org/.

Join the conversation: Is your Bible a place of nourishment and shelter for you?

Advertisement