The gift of writing thanks

Meet Andrea, a life-long, close family friend of mine and one of the most encouraging human beings I know. I grew up just a few houses down from Andrea and her family, but she's more than just a neighbor — she's family. I sat down with her this weekend and asked her what cards mean.

When I sat down in Andrea's kitchen, she said she had five thoughts about cards to share with me that I'm so excited to share with you.

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A gift of intimacy| "I'm doing a thing right now on intimacy with God, and two things it requires is time and connecting. And when you take the time time to sit down and immerse your thoughts and your pen on someone that you love and connect with them — whether it's across miles or across the street — through paper and pen, you are sending a personal, intimate gift."

Loving well | "It's a beautiful and simple way to love well. Loving each other as Jesus loved us. In this day, we are going beyond the quick text amor Facebook message to stop and express on paper our love to another. So it's just another way to love well, and it's simple."

Slow down | "It helps us practice the beauty of slowing down in such a fast paced. To sit down with a cup of tea or coffee and remember or immerse in another person or in the act that they did for you, you linger with them again. It's like unwrapping the gift again."

Piece of history | "It's like you're practicing or appreciating a type of art that's from the past. It seems almost a little vintage or like revitalizing a historical pattern of what used to happen when we use and pen and paper."

Blessings from above | "When we see the opportunity to thank someone and hand-write thanks, we're also recognizing the goodness of the giver of all good and perfect gifts and hand-writing thanks to Him. So it's like you're thanking someone, but you're really thanking God for what that person did and how they did it."