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Sending Love Letters

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs”
1 Corinthians 13:4-5, NRSV

“Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always ‘me first,’ doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts in God always. Always looks for the best, never looks back but keeps going to the end.” The Message, Eugene Peterson

Sending love letters to people we care about is a rewarding experience, both for us and for them. Making the time to take pen in hand and express our thoughts is valuable. But there’s another way to send love letters, too. This way takes as much time and attention as writing a loving note does, but it doesn’t require a pen and paper. It requires concentrated thought.

There is an invisible thread of energy winding through the universe one that connects us all. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can tell if someone is angry or upset with you, even if you haven’t seen or talked to this person? You can feel his or her anger, even if you haven’t been physically present to experience it. Thoughts have power particularly those charged with intense emotional energy. When we think mean, bitter thoughts, it can be like sending hate mail along our connecting wires. It can almost be a sensory attack.

Why not send loving thoughts charged with positive emotional energy? We can consciously choose to use our connections to others to send love. Send positive thoughts. Blessings. Peace. Assistance in time of crisis. We can send out thoughts in the form of a prayer; or we can simply think a blessing or positive thought, charge it with energy, and send it along the wires with love.

When someone you know or love comes to mind, or even someone you don’t – perhaps someone in another part of the country or the world, perhaps someone going through a particular crisis – and you’re not certain what to do, send a love letter. Your loving thoughts will touch them, and your blessings will all come back to you.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Prayer of St. Francis