Young Love Letters – a pause of thanks

I just wanted to pause in the re-telling of the love letters series to say thank you. Thank you for all of the kind comments you have left here and on Facebook. I have been humbled as you have expressed your desires for your own children to have Godly dating relationships and open communication with you during their teen years. At some point during the past week, it hit me that this story really is God’s story, and He is speaking through it in ways I never dreamed. This just started as a telling of our love letters leading up to Valentine’s Day.

The re-telling has also moved me in ways that have caught me by surprise. God has started to loosen knots in the strings of my soul that I did not realize were there until He began loosening and freeing me from them. He has given me gifts of grace that have brought tears to my eyes.

I’m sorting through hundreds of letters, re-living thousands of moments and reducing them to the most important elements of the story. I’ve read numerous letters aloud to Ked and we’ve laughed, cringed, groaned, and marveled how some things 17 years later are still the same. And it’s re-kindling our romance.

I was chatting with a friend on the phone the other day about the story, and I explained to her, that while I would never want to go back to those dating years nor trade the depth of the relationship that only 17 years of commitment, enduring trials together, and living in grace together can bring, it has been fun to walk down memory lane. In a season of intense busyness with child-rearing and career building it has been refreshing to remember how we first fell in love, to recount the million things that drew us to each other, and to remember how important it is to express those feelings of admiration, love and respect – to lavish them on him as I used to do. I can get so busy doing relationship that I forget to be in relationship.

And so, I’d like to encourage you to tell your own story. Whether it’s in written form, or in a photo album, or writing a letter, or putting together a scrapbook – recount God’s blessings to you. Whether it’s how your spouse romanced you, or how God wooed you into His family, remember your first love. Re-live it. Relish in it. Be blessed by it all over again.

I found an article by William Zinsser on “How to Write a Memoir: be yourself, speak freely, and think small” that I would love to share with you. As he explains, our personal histories are so important. It’s not about whether or not you are a writer. You have a story to tell that reflects God’s goodness to you through the rain and through the sunshine. You have something to share that only you can share, and it is beautiful.

One of my mom’s cousins recently passed along a letter that my great-grandmother, whom I barely remember, had written about the story of her life. I sat in awe of her strength and endurance, and in just those few short pages I learned so much from her. You never know who might need your story, or when they might need to hear it. You do the telling, let God do the speaking.