Letters from home

I mentioned in my last post that we started going through some of the things in storage in the nursery last weekend. One of the things that I addressed was my old stationary bag. From the time I was very young, I kept all my special paper, stickers, and letter-writing pens in this bag. I had a number of pen pals, usually girls I had met at camp over the summer. I loved both writing and receiving the letters.

Somewhere over the years, the contents of the bag seemed to slowly transition from letters-to-be-written into keeper -letters I'd received. I've not used most of the letter writing materials since high school, and the contents of the bag have remained largely untouched for the past 10 years.

As I went through the bag, I pulled out stacks of letters I'd received and kept, and enjoyed the memories. More special, though, than the letters from my various pen pals were the myriad of letters I'd received from my parents while I was at summer camp. I had letters from 1996 when I was at Forest Home as a CCA (Childcare Assistant), and from a few years later when I went to City on the Hill summer camp. Each letter was filled with little anecdotes about home life (like what the hamsters were up to that day), some word puzzles to figure out, an occasional note from Amanda about how she missed me, and constant reminders that my parents were praying for me and loved me. What a precious treasure to pass on to children!

As I re-read through many of the letters, I was struck with the desire to pass on to our new little one this same assurance of love and care. I so enjoyed getting those letters up at camp, and realize now that it was just one of the many ways my parents were very intentional about demonstrating their love. I hope and pray that we pass on this blessing from my parents to our children as they grow.

While the letters themselves were just a small piece of a much bigger picture, they were a tangible reminder of the love my parents conveyed to us. My sister and I have never doubted their care for us and their desire to continually deepen our relationship with them. What a wonderful picture of the desire God has for a relationship with us! Parents truly are a picture for their children of how God views us as His children. I am so grateful, not only for the assurance that my parents conveyed to us of their love, but also for how that example gave me an assurance of the love of God for His people. May Jacob and I take this responsibility seriously as we begin a family of our own!