No Words are Needed

Sometimes, no words are needed and sometimes words are all you need. Community can be both.

It can be a hug with no words, it can be a fun picture text between friends, it can be a shared table at the coffee shop, or a kick in the pants to meet for needed exercise.

It can be a long telephone call filled with encouraging words, it can be a short voxer message with a thinking of you, praying for you message, and it can be a short note card or a long letter sent via snail mail.

It can be the truth of God's Word spoken into your life, prayed over you.

I have found community in all those things, but still every day I have to fight for community. I have to make the effort to respond to the voxer message. I have to get off my lazy butt and write the snail mail cards. I have to say "yes" to meeting for coffee (or much needed exercise). I have to force myself to answer the phone.

I'm not trying to say that it's all about me, but without effort, there is no community. It takes risk of being rejected, risk of being misunderstood, risk of being ignored or hurt.

This pile of cards shows that words are the start of community, strangers becoming pen pals, friends!

Scripture is full of encouraging words on building unity and community and encouraging and edifying one another...  Here are just a few:

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

and all of Philippians 2.

Community Conversation: What is one of your favorite Scriptures on community? When is the last time you sent snail mail?

joining my dear bloggy friend, Jenn with a new link up called No Words Needed.

also linking up with Kaitlyn and the #fmfpartysnailmail community

and because a good note in the mail is just like coffee for your heart, I am joining in with Holley Gerth as she encourages so many with her words!

The Written Word: Snail Mail

I've never been a huge fan of my handwriting. For one thing, I'm left handed and it took many childhood years of struggle to figure out how to write without smearing the ink with my hand... and I don't hold my hand at that crazy awkward angle like my father does (have I mentioned that I love my father and all the quirks he has gifted to me?)

bunny trails, bunny trails... where was I?

Writing, the struggling theme of my smattering of blogposts lately.

More specifically, handwriting.

I know the power of the written word, especially the Word of God.

I also know the power of a handwritten recipe from a dear grandma, mom, or aunt.
I know the power of a scrapbook page with captions written from the heart.
I know the power of a hand-written journal entry
(Ooh, another bunny trail--my parents found my high-school diaries in their basement last month. I'm looking forward to picking them up on our next visit).
 
And I know the power of a hand-written encouragement note, thank you note, or birthday card (I'm partial to handmade).

It's rare to see a handwritten envelope in the mailbox these days, but thanks to #fmfpartysnailmail there are days when buried in the bills, catalogs and credit card offers, a small and beautiful breath of fresh air appears.  A personal envelope, handwritten. Those little notes mean the world to me--encouragement, verses, reminders that God is good and He sees me. A refocus that brings renewal and refreshment. Sometimes a handwritten note that pushes me to be a better me.

Like my mom and my oldest sister, they send handwritten notes regularly, little newsy updates, a connection in this fast-paced, so easy to drift apart world... I wanna be like them.

Even in my writing/blogging endeavors, I find that the ideas come and the words flow more easily with paper and ink instead of a keyboard and screen.
Writing helps me sort my thoughts, writing is an encouragement to others, writing is a way of telling generations to come the wonderful works of our amazing God. Writing is a way to give thanks to friend, to family, to God.

Have you seen the power of the written word in your life?

I'm joining my #fmfpartysnailmail friends over at Kaitlyn's place as we share about the written word, Go check them out!!