The Very End

As the nation pulls into the beginning of a new school year, I think about one thing: THE END!

Not the end of the school year, nor the end of the world, but the ending of letters. (For those of you born after 1998, a letter is a written sentiment across paper or card, scrawled out in a pencil, ballpoint, gel, or even glitter pen!) Like any collection of words, they have a beginning, middle and end- some formed more loosely then others, but the freedom of that is part of the beauty of letters. But that's not what I ponder on today...

How do YOU end your letters?

There's a line between the personal and professional of course, but both remain a method of communication. Communicating what, exactly? Best Regards, Fondest Wishes, Yours Truly, All My Love, In Christ, Until Then, the list could go for a while on how one could polish off their letters. When the ink dries however, letters seem to end with a tone, reflective of the body of their content. At least, shouldn't they try to?

'From' is the more common closing, but some time ago I thought about how you place your name and return address on the envelope (even in the CC on an email), so your recipient knows who the letter's from already. Makes 'from' a bit redundant. Then there are some letters signed off with just the person's name. Okay, it's to the point; the letter-writer said all that they need to and are confident in what they've said. I've done that, scribbling out my name all wacky, with a winking smily face drawn beside it.

My personal favorite though, has to be 'sincerely'. Sincere... I like the accountability this word holds me to. Its presence legitimately causes me to think about what I've written, the message that I am sending to someone else. At the end of the day (haha) I want my words to be in earnest. 

Why am I wasting a blog post on a single word/phrase that may or may not find its way into the closing of a letter? Because I've always been someone cemented in the fact that words are important. From the beginning, God saw the tongue's potential to be both a flaming brick and a comforting blanket (James 3:1-12). From prison, the apostle Paul knew that his letters would encourage the spiritual strength of his fellow Christian soldiers (I am clueless as to how to reference that, he wrote so many!).

In the century of a growing poverty line and diminished moral character (this analysis DOES NOT exclude myself!), our words are so often all we have. And they are more powerful then we realize. We should make every one of them count. Even the last ones in a letter.

'The hearts of the wise make their words prudent, 

and their lips promote instruction.

Gracious words are a honeycomb, 

sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.'

~Proverbs 16:23-24~

Sincerely, Lovingly, Wholly, 
                           Haley Bradfield