Tucked in Our Sleeves

"Dame Beatrice wrote to that girl every day: 'We have you tucked in our sleeves ...' and it was true. Every nun had a personal post, and a continual stream of letters went out, 'lifelines,' many people called them, each anchored in the strength of prayer." (In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden)

So was written on a postcard from my friend Boniface
who writes real letters to me! Even though we live near each other, see each other at church, email and read each other's blogs, we still write "real" letters, for there is nothing like a hand written letter. Often the letters or notes --or in this case, a postcard--include something we are thinking about, or sometimes just a quote from a book or something else we've read. But, they are always encouraging.

When I receive hers, or a letter from anyone, I feel honored that someone would take up pen, paper, find a stamp, write, and then go to the trouble of mailing it (and in these days it's difficult to find a place to mail a letter). It's definitely a dying art, but one that I hope will be revived. It's nice to be able to keep letters and reread them later, to be blessed all over again ... or to remember a bit of history. I am so thankful for the letters I have from my grandparents and from my father. And for those my mother saved that I wrote the years we lived in Africa.