The Blessings of a Handwritten Note

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Ok, think fast! When was the last time you received a handwritten note in the mail? It has been a couple of years since I’ve received one.

This present-day age of emails and text message has made handwritten notes almost obsolete.  Why send a birthday card to someone when you can express your thoughts to them on Facebook? Or, why write a “thinking of you” note to someone when you can shoot off a quick text?

I’ll be the first to admit that I love mail and am highly disappointed by the lack of truly personal mail these days. I think sending handwritten notes should come back in style.

I know what you’re thinking. “But, Jennifer, I don’t have time to do all I need to do much less add in writing notes to people.”

I know…I feel the same way sometimes. Do we really need to add one more thing to our to-do lists? In this case I think the answer is yes.

Here are a few blessings I see from writing notes to people:

1. Relationships are deepened and strengthened. Too often we hide behind social media and don’t take the time to cultivate true and meaningful relationships. This can leave us isolated and lonely. Writing a personal note to someone could open the door to a more meaningful relationship with them.
2. Gratitude is cultivated. When we take time to write a thank you note or a note telling someone how much they mean to us, we begin to see how much we have for which we need to be grateful.
3. Service becomes a lifestyle. Writing a note to someone takes time, thought, and energy. Serving people requires the same. When we begin thinking of others more than our selves, we begin to live a life of service. And when we serve others, the world becomes a much better place.

So, here is my plan for writing notes.

I’ve created a list in my planner to write down the names of people I want to write to. Each week I’ll schedule time to write one or two notes. If I don’t get to it one week, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. It’s really that simple.

These are the people I plan to write to this year.

• People who’ve impacted my life
• People who’ve impacted my children’s lives
• Friends celebrating a birthday
• Friends celebrating a milestone (birth of a child, anniversary, etc.)
• People who give me a gift
• Missionaries
• People who need encouragement

The list could go on and on. There is no end to people who would love a handwritten note.

So what about you? Do you like to write notes? Comment below and share some ways you’ve used handwritten notes to encourage others.