For the Beauty of the Earth January 5, 2010

Giving Game December 29, 2009

In the past, my family and I have tried to practice “giving” to others….blessing someone each day, in practice of giving to someone WITHOUT seeking praise or thanks for it. How often do you do something for someone and expect a “thank you”? How often do you do something nice to someone in secret so that you don’t receive the thanks?

God has said:

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6: 3-4

We shouldn’t be giving to receive thanks or praise…I’ve been thinking about this subject lately, and thought I’d share it with you, readers, on here! It’s hard to give up praise, isn’t it? Because praise is “sweet”, don’t you find? I mean, who DOESN’T like to be praised? I know personally that I prefer to do something nice in the open where it’s noticed…where people can see it and comment on it and praise me! But is that reason WHY I should be doing the “nice” things I do?? Shouldn’t I be giving because I LOVE the people I’m giving to? Or because I want to please God?

Like I said, my family and I have, in the past, practiced giving to others in secret. Exactly how did we do this? Easily! And I’m here to teach you how!

First off, you can get your whole family involved, or you could do it on your own. Either way, you’ll need to write down each of your family member’s names on a scrap of paper. Fold each piece of paper up and put it into a bowl. Mix around. If your whole family is involved, you will each choose a name from the bowl each day. Each of you will silently read the name that is on his/her scrap of paper. Then you will all fold the paper back up and place them all back into the bowl.

Then, you’re goal for the day is to each go and do something nice or encouraging, IN SECRET, for the person who’s name was on your scrap of paper. Don’t get caught doing something nice! Don’t broadcast to the world how nice you’re being! And believe me, it IS fun!

If your family doesn’t want to participate, you can always do it on your own. You will include all your family’s names in the bowl, you’ll simply be the only one to choose a name from the bowl. And just keep choosing a name each morning, until you’ve done something in secret for all your family members. (Don’t be surprised if you get someone twice in a row! Either put his/her name back and choose another, or do something in secret for that person again!)

Need help thinking of “nice” things to do in secret for someone? Here is just a list of things my family and I have done while participating in this exercise:

Washing dishes for someone’s whose turn it is.

Making beds

Vacuuming

General tidying up

A candy tucked under that person’s pillow for them to find.

Laundry folded and put away

Prepare lunch

Dusting

Cleaning someone’s room

Generally, we just tried to do someone’s chores for them in secret, so that later when they would go to do that chore, they’d be surprised to find that it was already done! But it was also fun to buy little gifts and hide them somewhere where our assigned person would find them and be surprised. Don’t restrict yourself to those ideas! Use your imagination and come up with your own ideas! And don’t make this a chore! It really is fun, I promise…put your whole heart into it, let all praise go to God and take pleasure in giving to someone instead of taking!

Happy Birthday HannahBeth!!! December 26, 2009

Happy Birthday to you, dearest HannahBeth!!!! We hope your day is full of EVERYTHING splendid!

May God bless you and keep you in this next year!

*throws confetti*

Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow December 22, 2009

We all fall sometimes
We all let ourselves down
Sometimes there’s nothing left, but to live with what’s been done
And know you’re not the only one who falls.

I wanna tell you can go on
Life beginnings come from ends
I still believe in you and so does God
He’s the one who still believes in those who fail
He’s the one who still believes in those who fall

~*~

I loved you then, I love you now
I will love you tomorrow
When this world breaks you down
I will give you strength to stand
Look to me, take my hand and just believe
Before this day ever began, I loved you then

~*~

I never understood
How merciful love could be
Until I felt His flame
Light every part of me
And I would give everything that I am
Cause I have been saved
Yes I have been saved

~*~

Sometimes we just need to be reminded how much God loves and cares for us, even when we are struggling so hard with the sin in our lives. Know today that God does love you. He loves you right now. He loved you yesterday. And He’ll love you tomorrow! Take comfort in that and pick yourself back up to face the day.

Happy Hanukkah! December 15, 2009

Hanukkah is one of my favorite times of the year and as it’s this week, I thought I would post about it! Brilliant, huh? Anywho, this is a short article I wrote on the subject several years ago, that I touched up a bit in time for this post! I hope it will “enlighten” (lol…okay, so maybe it wasn’t that funny of a joke.) you as to what Hanukkah is really all about!

Hanukkah

Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of Dedication, is the historical account of the Maccabees and a miracle that God performed. It all began loooooooong ago, when a cruel Syrian king reigned over Judea. This king, Antiochus by name, followed the Greek religion and commanded all of Judea to observe the Greek religion as well. He issued edicts, directed mostly to the Jews, announcing that everyone was to abandon God, to no longer keep the Sabbath-day, or read the Torah (God’s laws). Antiochus also destroyed God’s temple in Jerusalem to keep the people from worshipping Him. Any who disobeyed the new laws were to be killed. In spite of this, the Jews refused to obey the new laws and as a result many were killed. Soldiers of King Antiochus were sent into every village to uphold all the king’s new laws. In one particular village, the soldiers raised up an idol and ordered all the people to worship it. One man, Mattathias, refused and with his five sons, he fought the soldiers before escaping to the mountains. There, Mattathias died, but before he did, he appointed his son, Judah, to take his place as a leader. Judah’s name soon changed to Maccabee, which means ‘hammer’. Any who followed him were named ‘Maccabees’. The Maccabees grew into a large army, going into every village and overcoming the Syrians wherever they went until Antiochus was finally defeated. It was then that the people in Jerusalem began the large task of rebuilding the temple. It was exactly three years after Antiochus had destroyed the temple that the people finished rebuilding it. To dedicate the temple, the Jews lit a menorah. However, they only a little oil…not enough to last very long. God had a miracle occur by allowing the oil to last eight days instead of just one! The people celebrated the rededication of the temple during those eight days. Those eight days are remembered and celebrated as Hanukkah. It’s a time to remember the Maccabees and the miracle that God had occur. This time reminds us to stand up for our faith and to never desert God, even in the roughest of times. It’s a time to be a light to others…a time when people can really see how different we are in this world, and a time to be a light to all others in this world. It’s a time to remind us to BE different, to SHINE with God’s love that people will look at us and wonder why we are different.

My family and I have been celebrating Hanukkah for several years now, and I have to say that it’s brought only encouragement into my life! Many people have assumed that since my family and I do not celebrate Christmas, that we keep Hanukkah as a replacement. I just want to point out that Hanukkah is NOT a replacement for Christmas for us! It’s a special time for us to be a light to others, to show God’s love to others! And it is an encouragement to my family and I to know that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah! In fact, it was one of the reasons why we started to keep Hanukkah! Curious as to how we know Jesus celebrated Hanukkah? Check out this verse: “At that time the Feast of Dedication  took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.” (John 10:22-23) Now, at that time of the year, Jesus wasn’t usually in Jerusalem. So why was He there? To celebrate the Feast of Dedication…Hanukkah!

Hanukkah started last Friday, December 11th, and ends this Friday, December 18th. Happy Hanukkah to you all and let Him shine His light through you! Don’t just let this be the only time of the year to shine His light! Let this be a reminder to shine His light ALL the time!!

Any questions about Hanukkah? Feel free to e-mail me at: knittergirl17@gmail.com, or leave a comment!

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Deliver Me December 8, 2009

Deliver Me

by Bethany Dillon

Deliver me from my prideful mind

It weighs heavier on me all the time

What a silent yet such a deadly crime

To think that I own my life

So humble me just like You did

The king who lost his mind in the wilderness

And don’t let me go back

Until I confess

You are the only God

Deliver me from my hateful thoughts

I’m committing murder in the presence of God

Break my heart just like David’s was

With a weeping, pregnant widow in my house

How can I despise my brother

When I killed Your only begotten Son

Help me prefer another and say

You are the only God

This morning my alarm went off

Earlier than I’d ever want

And in this small obedience, Lord

Help my heart stay bowed down

Father, you’ve given Jesus

All those He will raise up

And all eyes, including mine, will see

You are the only God

Deliver me…

Do you know how much sin is in your heart? Pride, hate, anger…I struggle with all those in my own heart, and I know first-hand how HARD it is to get rid of them! I’ve been constantly learning over this year that my life is not my own…I have  nothing, AM nothing…nothing at all. And I cannot depend on my own strength to get rid of all the horrible sins I have in my life. Two words could change my life…”Deliver me.” My life isn’t my own…He owns my life. He made me, fashioned me, and gave me life! And as a Christian, I want to give all of my life to His service! I can’t do that properly when my heart is so ugly with sin! And the only way to get rid of that sin, is to ask Him to “deliver me”…to give my life up to Him and ask Him to wash me clean…ask Him to forgive me and help me turn completely around and away from those sins. Let Him deliver you! He is always willing, always waiting, always loving…He is just waiting to deliver us!

Lessons from Christy December 7, 2009

This weekend, I finished reading through the book, “Christy”, by Catherine Marshall, for the third (or is it fourth? I can’t recall) time. Once again, I’ve been reminded of what a wonderful book it is, both spiritually and simply as a work of fiction. For those who have yet to read it (and I would only recommend it to those 16 and older, unless your parents give you permission otherwise-it doesn’t have anything bad, but some mature and a few disturbing topics are covered which would not be appropriate reading for younger ages ), it’s the story of a 19 year old girl, Christy Huddleston, who, wanting to do something worthwhile with her life, leaves home to teach school to the destitute and utterly illiterate children of Cutter Gap, TN. It’s the story of her first 11 months there; how she acclimates to the backwoods mountain peoples’ ways of living, and the superstitions they are slaves to; and her journey to discover for herself what faith in God means, and the purpose of life. Christy is mentored by a woman named Alice Henderson, and her advice to Christy was like she was speaking to me as well!

There is one point, near the beginning of the story, where Christy feels like giving up on the mountain people, and going home. There is so much hardship, so much fighting, so much tension and evil there, and Miss Henderson rightly tells her that she was raised in an “ivory tower”, sheltered from the evil of the world, and when shown the pain so evident in life, she wanted to run right back to that refuge. Rather than stay, and try to fight it, she wanted to go back to where life was comfortable, where she was oblivious to the ugly side of this world. I see in Christy a lot of myself. I’ve been raised in a good Christian home, sheltered from so many of this worlds’ evils-and I’m thankful for that! So many people I know have told me they wished they had been sheltered like I have been, because they’ve had to deal with so much pain because they weren’t. But that’s beside the point…
Now that I’m beginning to see things for the way they are, I really wish I could go back to that “ivory tower”, that blissful ignorance of anything evil. I wish I could see the world through the innocence of a child again, and not have to think about arguments, bitterness, hatred, strife, abortions, murders, and disrespect for God. But that’s not how life is-life isn’t free from pain and hurting. It’s depressing, yes, to deal with it, and definitely not fun! But we don’t have to deal with it alone! He is right there with us, when we’re resolving conflicts in our families. He’s right there with us, when we listen as a stranger tells us of their hardships and then offer them a word or two of encouragement. He’s right there with us, as we try to show His love to those He’s brought into our lives. So we shouldn’t turn our backs on it, or ignore it as if it doesn’t exist. We should face it head on, with Christ right beside us, knowing that He is at work beneath the painful surface!

“But we were talking a while ago about running back to our ivory tower. You see, Christy, evil is real-and powerful. It has to be fought, not explained away, not fled. And God is against evil all the way. So each of us has to decide where WE stand, how we’re going to live OUR lives. We can try to persuade ourselves that evil doesn’t exist; live for ourselves and wink at evil. We can say that it isn’t so bad after all, maybe even try to call it fun by clothing it in silks and velvets. We can compromise with it, keep quiet about it and say it’s none of our business. Or we can work on God’s side, listen for His orders on strategy against the evil, no matter how horrible it is, and know that He can transform it.” -Miss Alice Henderson, to Christy on page 103 in the novel.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
~Isaiah 41:10

International Talk With a Fake British Accent Day December 1, 2009

Alright, who’s with me: accents are FUN. If you DO agree with me, then you should be just as excited as me for “International Talk With a Fake British Accent Day”, which just happens to be December 17th.

The point of the day? It’s just a silly, fun day to get away with going around talking with a fake, British accent!

 

Don’t know how to speak with a fake British accent? Check out the video for the one, great tip. So get practicing, because the day will be upon us before you know it!

Just 10 Things…Out of Hundreds November 24, 2009

A friend and I were recently talking about Thanksgiving and about the many ways that God has blessed us this year.

This month I turned twenty years old. And in those twenty years, God has so blessed me! Too many times to even count! And one point my friend and I had been discussing was just how dissatisfied and unthankful we can become, when we don’t get what we want, or things don’t turn out the way we had planned. So I came up with the idea for this post to find JUST ten out of the hundreds of things that God has blessed me for this year. And some of those ten things are to be things that I didn’t necessarily count as blessings  at first…often, God will bless us with something and we don’t view it as a blessing. Instead we sigh or groan over it, until later we finally see that it really was all for our best interest and that it was a blessing, not a curse! My reminder to you all, in this time of Thanksgiving, is that God’s plans for you are blessings! He never does anything that is not in your best interest! He’s a caring and a loving God who just LOVES to fill our lives with blessings! Don’t you think it would be nice to actually recognize all those blessings?? To thank Him for them? Even if they don’t seem like the “normal” kind of blessing, or even if they seem like a tiny thing…thank Him for it! God loves to hear your thanks and appreciation…He loves and welcomes your love!

 

10 of the Blessings I’ve Receieved or Am MOST grateful for This Year…

1. My family. It’s true that soo many people say “my family” around Thanksgiving. But how many people say it with all their heart and truly mean it? My family isn’t perfect…they all annoy me to no end! BUT. I am not even close to being perfect, myself! And my family has to put up with ME as well! They see my “bad side” every day. They have to put up with my odd quirks, my hyperness, my talkative nature, my enthusiasm for my likes and dislikes, my crabbiness, my early-morning complaints…believe me, the list keeps on going. :/ Now, I’m not saying I should take all that for granted nor that they should HAVE to put up with all that. BUT. I am so thankful that my family loves me enough to DO that. Thankful that my family loves and cares enough to actually LISTEN to me, to HEAR me, to support me in my pursuits, to encourage me in my walk with God…I take my family and their love for granted.God has bless me by putting me in a large, Christian family. A family who WANTS to pursue Him, and a family that forgives…That is a great, great blessing from God!

 

2. Music. I love music. Period. lol. GOd certainly blessed the world when He created music! Beautiful sounds to please us! There’s not a SINGLE day that goes by

where I don’t listen to SOME music! Music is a daily part of my life! But it is NOT something I should take for granted! God has blessed me with the ability to hear and appreciate all those beautiful sounds! He has blessed so many people with great talents so that they can share them with the world. He has blessed so many Christian artists and the message they proclaim, and I’m especially thankful for that! There have many NUMEROUS songs that I have learned something from! And although I never had a genius talent for playing music, God allowed me to take…oh, what was it? 12 years? of piano lessons. Twelve long years. I took those lessons for granted so many years, and found the practicing difficult and boring. But now I see them for what they truly were: BLESSINGS. Even the practicing…it was all a blessing! And so, I thank God for the blessing of music!

 

3. Photography. The ability to capture a beautiful moment, a beautiful smile, a happy memory…God certainly blessed us the day that He gave the wisdom to the inventor of the camera! I am passionate about photography, and many of you know how I want to pursue photography. And here’s one thing I take for granted…my passions! God has blessed me with the ability to feel passionate about things! He has given me the ability to pursue my interests! And so far, He has blessed me in my pursuit of photography! I wanted to take a class at a local college this fall, but I wasn’t able to, due to my schedule. Instead. God brought along an opportunity in the shape of a 4 week, FREE class at the library. It wasn’t the most detailed class ever, but it was basic, easy to understand, and fun altogether! I learned so much and God opened the door and blessed me with being able to attend the class! I thank God for the blessing photography is.

 

4. Prayer. I’m the sort of gal, who when has a problem, likes to rant about it. Either to my family, or a friend, in my journal, etc. But, I’ve learned what a blessing prayer is. I can go to God 24/7 (not even the bestest friend is THAT available!!) with any, single thing I have on my mind. And not only that, but I can tell Him ANYTHING. There some things that I can’t confide even in my closest friend, but I CAN tell God. And it doesn’t even matter that He knows all already! He is never too busy, never too tired to listen! He is always there! And He is there to hear and reply. To listen and sympathize. To help me grow and learn! Prayer is another daily blessing that I take for granted much too often!

 

5. Freedom. Yes, yes, I know how our country has changed (and not for the better) so much over the years, but there’s one thing I can still be thankful for. Today I am still free to read His Word, to study it as much as I want, and to grow in Him. And that is one thing I certainly take for granted! I don’t read or study in His word, nor follow Him as diligently as I should. What happens if I lose that freedom someday? There are so many countries out there, where the people do NOT have freedom to follow God! This is a blessing I need to take and USE! Not just take and HAVE.

 

6. His timing. Yes, His timing is a blessing! It has been one of the things I really learned this year: that HIS timing is best! Many of you heard how I got to meet one of my most dearest friends for the first time ever this year. My family and my friend HannahBeth cooked up the best birthday surprise ever. HannahBeth was able to drive up for my birthday party and surprise me. It was a shock, let me tell you! And it was one of the best presents I’ve ever received. HannahBeth and I have known each other for quite a few years now…and we had been DYING to meet! lol. Even though we had never met in person, I’ve considered her one of my best and closest friends almost instantly after we first started writing. And we nearly got to meet this past summer. We had a plan to meet, and we were beyond thrilled! I was counting down the days and thanking God for finally allowing us to meet! Then. Those plans changed. We wouldn’t get to meet, after all. That was HARD to accept cheerfully. I was disappointed more than anything! I wanted to complain to God, and I kinda did. Then. I began to  pray: “God, obviously, it wasn’t YOUR timing. I can’t undestand why You didn’t allow it to happen, but I know You have our best interest in mind. So God, let it be in YOUR timing, and not MINE that You allow HannahBeth and I to meet.” I had to realize that God’s timing is TRULY the best…and it was. Meeting HannahBeth the way I did, was better than I had ever thought it could be! I got to have her at my birthday party!! I got her as a birthday SURPRISE! What a blessing God’s timing TRULY is! And while it may seem like OUR timing is best, don’t be let down! God’s timing is REALLY best of all!

 

7. Friends. I canNOT write this post without mentioning how I have some of the BESTEST friends ever! God has brought so many SPECIAL and WONDERFUL people in my life! There was a time, where I felt like I didn’t have very many close friends…only a few good pen-pals. And only a few who I actually considered to be CLOSE to me. (Besides my family, that is. ) Then God slowly began to bring these wonderful, special people in my life. I’ve had my share of hard friendships…friendships that started out well and ended badly. Friendships that ruined through disagreements and debates. But God blessed me with friends who love, encourage, sympathize, and help me! I wish I could name them all here! Because they are so important to me, but I shall have to restrain myself and save it for another time! But you girls know who you are! I LOVE you, so very, very much! You mean so much to me. And I’m afraid I take you all too much for granted! I can never say how much I appreciate and love you all! <3

 

8. Rain. AHA! Here’s one of those things that I don’t always like to admit is a blessing! I’m not too fond of the rain. I’m a sunshine-and-puppies kind of gal! I LOVE warm sunshine and blue skies! I really don’t like the wetness, the gray skies…BUT. The rain IS a blessing. Imagine how boring life would be if EVERY day was sunshiney and warm? I wouldn’t appreciate sunny days as much as I do if it weren’t for the rainy ones. And the rain helps bring about the beauty I see outside…it waters the flowers, the green grass, green trees that I LOVE to see on those sunshiney days. And those sunshiney days would NOT be as beautiful and sunshiney if it weren’t for the rain! So yes, I thank God for the blessing of rain!

 

9. Chocolate! lol. Yes, my beloved chocolate! I often joke about how chocolate is a life-line, not a candy. God has blessed me with the ability to taste and savor this delicious candy! (Yes, yes, I said candy. ) He has blessed the world with different and DELICIOUS flavors! Imagine how life would be if everything tasted the same! Ugh! I canNOT imagine life if chocolate tasted the same as oatmeal! *shudders at the thought* So yes, I thank God for taste buds, for flavor, and for chocolate!

 

10. Love. More specifically, HIS love. Yes, I know this is probably another thing that is OFTEN said during Thanksgiving, but I can’t let this post go by without saying this. I take God’s love for granted every single day. Every single time I rebel against Him, every single time I do something wrong, say something horrible, do anything that goes against what He says, He forgives me fully and completely if I just say sorry and repent. Imagine life without God’s love…there’d be nothing to live for! Life is not worth it without God or His love! He does so much, HAS DONE so much for me! I take for granted everything He does for me and I just want to take this day to remind myself that God is WORTH my thanks. He is WORTH my love. He is WORTH my effort to follow Him. He is WORTH EVERYTHING and MORE.

 

Don’t take life for granted. Don’t take love for granted. Don’t take family for granted. Don’t take GOD for granted!

“Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” I Chronicles 29:13

Let’s THANK God! Let us SHOUT out to the world that HE is WORTHY to be praised! Thank Him for everything He has DONE!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Letter-Writing November 17, 2009

I don’t know about all of you, but I simply LOVE receiving a letter in the mail! There’s something about receiving an envelope with your name on it and being able to pull out a piece of stationary, full of words from a dear friend, that is so much more exciting than an e-mail or private message over the internet!

And writing back is just as much fun, I think! Here are a few tips I like to use when writing a letter to a friend, to make it more enjoyable for her to read.

 

#1. Sometimes it gets really tiresome to ALWAYS open a letter with “Dear so-and-so”. So instead I try to find different, fun, or wacky kinds of greetings! Some that I’ve used in the past include: “Heyo so-and-so”, “Hey-Howdy-Hey!”, “What-up, Partner!”, “What ho! What ho!”…it just starts the letter off more fun than a boring ‘ol “Dear so-and-so”.

 

#2. I don’t particularly like always starting my letter with the normal: “How are you” either. It’s just so over-done! If you read any tutorial on writing letters, you’ll notice that they alwas stress on NOT always beginning with “How are you”. Thing is, “how are you?” is a great ice-breaker…or letter-breaker, if you want to put it that way. It starts the letter so easy…I mean, sometimes it’s hard to think of how otherwise to start a letter! If I must open a letter with a “how are you”, I try to word it differently, such as, “How have you been faring as of late?” (old-fashioned wording is always such great fun to use!), “How has your health been lately?”, or a simple, “I hope you’ve been doing well” is fine. Try to come up with different phrases each time! And if you don’t want to start with a “how are you”, but don’t know how else to start your letter, then simply write something like: “I’m sitting here in my room, writing to you. Where are you sitting right now?” Then go on to write about all you can see and hear around you. It’s always fun to read what a person can see and hear…sometimes it makes for amusing stories! And it frees you from having to say “how are you”, and shoots you right into the body of the letter!

 

#3.  Don’t fall into the trap of writing the same letter to all your pen-pals! What fun would there be for you, if you just copied the same letter over and over for each one of your friends? I try to make my own letters to my friends personal and special for each of my friends. There are some friends that I  talk about more serious stuff with…stuff that’s been going on in my spiritual life. Some I don’t talk about such serious stuff…instead I’ll write more about my  life at work, or life with such a big family! I also try to write about what I think that friend will find interesting. Now, some of my friends are not as crazy about crafts as I am, so I try not to overfill a letter about my knitting projects to a friend who will find that rather boring. I don’t avoid talking about knitting ALL the time with such friends, I just try to keep it to a minimum in my letters. Because, if your friend really cares about you, she’ll be interested in hearing what you’re interested in, and what you’ve been up to! And when an event has happened in your life that you want to share with all your pen-pals, try to word it differently in each letter…just to make it more fun for you to write. It can get tiresome to write the same thing over and over again!

 

#4. Ask questions! I find that is one of the MOST important keys to writing good letters! Questions! I LOVE it when my friends ask me questions in my letters…it gives me more to write about in my reply to them! I’ll have all my answers to give back to them, and I’ll be able to ask the same question back! Your questions don’t have to be about serious subjects all the time, nor do they always have to be silly, light questions either! My friends and I have asked each other questions about our beliefs, our thoughts on subjects, our opinions, as well as questions like: “what are you favorite colors?”, “favorite books?”, “favorite movies?”…whatever the questions are, they’re always great to get and reply to! (NOTE: if you are asked/or are asking about beliefs and such, be POLITE and UNDERSTANDING. Don’t judge, and don’t ask questions specifically to grill a friend…ask ONLY if you are truly interested! A pen-pal hates to feel like her friend is grilling her or judging her for her beliefs! But if you’re truly just interested, most pen-pals would be more than happy to reply and share!)

 

#5. Share! Don’t be afraid to share what you’ve been learning lately, or what you’ve been feeling! It’s always great to swap lessons learned or funny stories or anything, for that matter! And remember! Any secrets or private stories your pen-pal shares are PRIVATE unless they say otherwise! Don’t go telling all your other friends about your pen-pals troubles or embarrassing stories, etc. Treat your pen-pal the way you want to be treated!

 

#6. Write back promptly! Don’t you love it when a pen-pal writes back sooner than later? Do the same to her then! Now, I’m not saying you HAVE to write back as soon as you get your friend’s letter! Just don’t let 6 months slip by before you reply!! It will make it seem as if you don’t care about receiving her letters nor that you care whether or not to reply! Take the time to reply in a reasonable amount of time. And if you have a good excuse as to why you can’t reply as quickly as you’d have liked (like you were sick, or you had to help out with your family, or you were on vacation, or whatever the reason!), just simply apologize and explain to your pen-pal! She’ll understand!

 

#7. Aaah! The ending! Again, like the heading, I like to change my endings differently from time to time instead of the usual, “Love , Sam”. I’ve done: “Much love and enormous HUGS, Sam”, “Toodle Pip Pip!”, “Until next time!”, “Cheerio and Goodbye!”, or again, old-fashioned endings like: “regards”, “Yours fondly”, etc…and try to avoid phrases like: “Write back SOON!”, “Please write back sooner!”…it makes your friend feel pressured to write back before she has the actual time to! A friend should NEVER feel pressured to write back RIGHT away! I, personally, prefer to write, “Write when you can!” It shows that I look forward to her next letter, but that I’m also content to wait until she has the time to write!

 

#8. Have FUN! Don’t make letter-writing a chore! It’s a fun thing to do, not a torture process! To me, I’ve always seen letter-writing as: talking to a friend who is not in front of me. I like to write my letters as if I’m talking to my friend face-to-face…I imagine her standing before me, and then I write like I would talk…which can be alot, as many of you know. *sheepish grin* And that’s another thing…if you tend to write long letters to your friends, don’t pressure them into writing looooong letters back to you! Some friends may find it harder to write than you do…thus it’s harder for them to write as long as you do! Enjoy the letters simply as they are: words from a friend, who cares enough to reply back!

 

 

And I would just like to use this opportunity to say: if there is anyone who would like a pen-pal, please feel free to e-mail me at: knittergirl17@gmail.com, just asking! I would be more than happy to write to you! Age is of no matter to me! Whether you  be 8 or 24, I simply LOVE writing letters!