How many texts do you get in one day? How many personal, hand-written notes have you received in the past month? No contest there. Whatever the form--text, written, typed, or chiseled in stone--we enjoy communication with friends and family.
Take a teenager out to dinner and you'll observe them sneaking peeks at the phone buzzing in their lap. They really think we don't notice. As a teacher, my high school students complained when I made them write essays, saying they hated writing. Then I would intercept long, heart-felt notes to one of their dearest BFFs containing some sort of teenaged drivel. It was puzzling.
Let's face it, whether texting or real writing or talking on the phone, we all love to communicate with those important to us. We are wired for social communication.
Cursive? What's that?
Gone are the days of beautifully scripted, hand-written notes. Cursive is on its way out just like the calligraphy of by-gone years. My Step-Grandmother Rose was an artist who wrote beautiful letters. I don't remember what she wrote but I do remember the artistry of her communications: onion-skin paper, blue fountain pen ink, and consistent handwriting with swirls and flourishes that truly were works of beauty. As a child in school her knuckles were rapped often during penmanship class for not following the Palmer Method of writing, whatever that is.
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| One of Rose's Artistic Letters |
God's Communication with Us
The Bible is God's special letter of love to us and is an important tool to teach us how to live. Just think, he inspired many writers as well as teams of scholars throughout the years to compose and select scripture, resulting in communication with us mere mortals. It fascinates me how modern the Bible is. It has answers for whatever I'm going through or feeling and I always learn something new.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man [woman] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16 & 17)
Try This for an Exercise
Think of one or two issues you're dealing with right now. You know, the things that keep you awake at night and plague your thoughts throughout the day. Then find a Bible Concordance (index) and look up key words from what you're battling. A good online concordance can be found at https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?
Your search will bring up various passages of scripture that speak to your concerns. Zero in on the one or two that touch your heart and then read them in various translations of the Bible, finding the one you like best. This site offers choices from a long list of versions. You may be moved by the beautiful language of Elizabethan English in the King James Version of the Bible or you may enjoy the ultra-modern, easy to grasp version in The Message. A few translations I've enjoyed are:
- The Book
- The Message
- The Living Bible (paraphrase)
- The Good News Bible
- The New International Version
- The New English Version
- The Revised Standard Version
So Many Choices
We are fortunate the Bible is available in many formats today. We're not relegated to a heavy book with real pages. We can read it on our phones, our tablets, our e-readers, our laptops, desktops, wrist computers, and soon perhaps eyeglass computers! There even are audio versions of scripture we can listen to during long commutes in our cars. Get in the habit of turning to this Book for help in your daily struggles through life and be enriched.
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My dear Step-grandmother frequently signed her letters, "Lovingly, Rose" or "Take care, love to all and wishes for good health." I'd like to think God had such closings in mind for us when he gave us his Word as our Holy Guidebook.
"Take care, my Divine love to all, and wishes for good health. Love, God."
(or: "My Dvn <3 2 all & wshs 4 gd hlth. <3, Gd.")
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This is great! Thanks!
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