Letters: small things with great love

Have you ever received a love letter from a stranger, addressed just to you? Many people have, thanks to the More Love Letters team.

A movement called “The World Needs More Love Letters” is spreading encouragement to people in emotional need through the simple ministry of letter writing to strangers.

Founder Hannah Brencher suffered from depression while adjusting to her new home in New York City. To cope with loneliness, she began leaving little encouraging notes for strangers all over the city. Within a year, this small gesture turned into a local movement and is now a national phenomenon.

Volunteer writers send letters to people in trying times, and anyone can request a bundle of letters to be sent to someone they love for encouragement and support. Many people report that they have found letters in odd places, and it gave them hope to continue in their day.

She has recorded her own Ted talk and shares her love of people, stories and letter-writing with people across the globe. She still writes letters to strangers, but also helps others do it. Her story is an inspiration to many.

I have been writing letters for years. It began at camp when the only way I could speak to friends was through paper and pen. It grew from a hobby into a passion when I saw the difference it made in my own life, and in the lives of my pen pals.

Two weekends ago, I was on a trip to Windsor to see some friends. I ended up sitting next to a woman in her 70s. She was quiet at first, but like any stranger on the train, she had a story. I was writing a blogpost at the time, and while she watched me fumble with my glasses and type out my thoughts, she asked if I was a writer. Turns out she was too. After two hours of storytelling and sharing, we decided to write letters to each other. A new relationship was formed.

Sending and receiving letters brings out a different side to a person. Getting a letter in the mail instead of a bill or a notice is like getting a special hand-crafted gift. Writing a letter entails thinking of that person with undivided attention for a long period of time. Though considered an old fashioned way of communicating, letter writing is less about speedy communication and more about quality communication.

I challenge you to get involved in this movement. Consider leaving a hand-written note to a stranger: leave it between pages of a library book, place it inconspicuously on a subway seat, stick it on the mirror of a restroom. It not only reminds us that we are loved, it also evokes the simplest gestures within us. It makes us sensitive to the lives of others, reminding us to be kind and to “give always without concerning yourself with results," as St. Therese of Lisieux teaches us.

Letter writing is just one concrete example of Mother Teresa’s words of wisdom, “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”