When our kids were younger I started writing them annual letters. They were collections of cute things that our kids said and did. But I also tried to capture those moments that I believed were prophetic glimpses of who they were becoming. I'm sad that there are missing years, but I'm not going to allow the fact that I missed a few years keep me from picking the habit back up. As a dad, one of my roles is to function as a biographer for my kids. In a sense, my letters are their journals before they had the ability to write or remember.
It's Summer's birthday today and I'm writing her an annual letter. Letters force me to say what I mean and mean what I say. And they are something I envision her hanging on to and accumulating as the years pass. Honestly, I think they will be far more meaningful ten years from now. The letters take a backseat to the presents now. But someday the presents will take a backseat to the letters. I was really inspired to pick this habit back up a few weeks ago during a baby dedication at NCC. A new father sent me an amazing letter he had written to his son before he was born and it deeply impacted me. I imagined his son reading that letter when he turned 16 or 18 or 21.
The bottom line is this: parents are prophets. And we've got to find ways to speak faith, hope, and love into the lives of our children. An annual letter on their birthday is one way of doing it.
It's Summer's birthday today and I'm writing her an annual letter. Letters force me to say what I mean and mean what I say. And they are something I envision her hanging on to and accumulating as the years pass. Honestly, I think they will be far more meaningful ten years from now. The letters take a backseat to the presents now. But someday the presents will take a backseat to the letters. I was really inspired to pick this habit back up a few weeks ago during a baby dedication at NCC. A new father sent me an amazing letter he had written to his son before he was born and it deeply impacted me. I imagined his son reading that letter when he turned 16 or 18 or 21.
The bottom line is this: parents are prophets. And we've got to find ways to speak faith, hope, and love into the lives of our children. An annual letter on their birthday is one way of doing it.
4 Comments:
Mark - let me encourage you in this process. I've been writing annual letters to both my boys on their birthdays since they turned 5. They are now 13 and 10 respectively.
Most of the time the letters do get lost in the shuffle but my wife puts a copy in the boys scrapbook and for the first time this year, my 13 year old actually asked where his was at - so they do make a difference!
Thanks for the encouragement as a parent!
I started this with Makenna 4 years ago and am writing Michael's 1st letter this year. I think it's a brilliant thing to do for your kids!
Never short of a good idea...I like it.
Mark- I plan to make this idea my own as i think it is a brilliant way for us to bless our children. I am excited for my next son's birthday which is mine as well!
As my wife's birthday approaches this week I plan to even adopt this idea for my wife. What an amazing way for us to bless our wives for the things they do that sometimes go unnoticed. I look forward to beginning to write a hand written letter(which I have not done in some time) for my wife on her 30th birthday!
Thanks for the great idea and continued encouragement. Would love to come visit sometime in DC.
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