Actually, it cost more than that. That was just the price of the card. Add 55 cents for postage and a bit of time and some ink to write on the inside and then it cost some time to walk and put it in the mailbox.
How do we value the things we do in life? Why do we do what we do? I hate to admit it, but I have gone card shopping, picked one out and then looked at the price! I am cheap, however, I prefer the word, “Frugal”. I think “frugal” sounds more “Christian”. And I have bought way too expensive cards because I had to buy a card. I have also bought cards that were probably a bit on the ornery side because, well, I could. I have bought a lot of cards in my day and I still believe in the Pony Express. There is something about getting a card in the mail. It’s a moment when your heart skips a beat as you look through the mail and at this time of year, it’s not a political advertisement. It’s a handwritten note. It’s handwriting you recognize. Most of the time the reason you recognize the handwriting is because of the relationship. The reason why you value the relationship is the time invested. The reason you invested time is because someone reached a hand out, and one of you reached back. The point of reaching the hand out was the desire for a friend. The desire for a friend comes from the longing God put in our hearts to be a community, created for a herd mentality and the desire of our heart. Proverbs reminds us of that. “Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.”
It all boils down to, you don’t get the card without time committed to be a friend. In fact I have never gotten a card from just “someone” mailed to me. Well, I get letters to “resident at” or even more inventive, “household presiding at” but the letters and cards that steal my heart say in cursive handwriting, my name! But that relationship didn’t come overnight and if not cultivated and cared for relationships just grow without direction and full of weeds: kind of like my garden I attempt every year. Grows well, just not the things I thought I planted because, well, I just walked by it and said, “There is my garden” rather than spending time in it. Being a friend takes a step from both sides to meet. Sometimes it’s in the middle, sometimes one has to walk a bit farther but it’s all about the relationship.
Ironically, I had bought a card to send, and hadn’t mailed it yet. Call it harvest in Minnesota and just it’s still sitting on my desk but I had bought the card. I will mail it! Not because it’s tit for tat, you send me a card, I sent you a card, but because of the pleasantness of a friend that Proverbs talks about. It just does the heart good. But more importantly, it’s encouragement and in this world we are living in, we need encouragement. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Paul saw the merit of cards! Perhaps they didn’t have Hallmark back then, or Dayspring, or Leanin’ Tree but they had ways of encouraging one another. It was expected, it was being done and it was being encouraged to keep doing. Paul wasn’t just speaking in the first century, he was intending it to be something that whoever reads that section of Scripture grips with both hands and holds on to… and then does what it says! So go spend $3.29, or $3.50, or $5.00 or just fold a piece of paper two ways and make your own card. And you can afford it- that’s less than a Frappe Cappuccino Express. (Like I actually know what that is- NOT). Go love someone. Go send a card! For no reason. For a reason. Because the leaves are falling. Because it’s Monday. Because a card regardless of it’s cost, is priceless to the heart.
Special Touch Ministry 