there is greatness in a greeting

Letter writing is an art form
that unfortunately is becoming
a thing of the past.

It's not the same
as sending an email.
And cannot remotely
be compared to a text.

I'm referring to the old-fashioned,
hand-written letter with
a stamp on the outside
of an envelope that is delivered
by the U.S. Postal Service.

Yes, that antiquated art form.

Funny, one of my daughters
asked me the other day
where she could get a stamp.
And she didn't mean
around my house.

Like she had never purchased one
so she didn't know were to go
to get one, or two, or a book of them.

I do remember taking them
to the Post Office when
they were little.

But I'm sure they don't have
any clue why we stood in that line.

Even the letters we do get in the mail,
are typically junk mail on letterhead
and we skim over them to see
if there's anything necessary
before we shred them or
pitch them in the trash.

Some of them I can tell
before I ever open the envelope...
with that fake handwritten ink
on the outside of the envelope.
I realize it's not from someone
I know, so I don't even read it.

But what if you got one...
a REAL letter?
Would you take the time
to sit down somewhere quiet,
away from the hectic pace of the day
and really absorb what your friend
or loved one had to say to you?

Because they took the time
to write it out, it must truly be
something of great importance.

Do you remember the last time
you got a letter like that?
Did it begin formally
with a greeting of some sort?
Dearest Lisa...
Greetings from...
Hoping you are well...

The personalization
would vary, of course
depending on how you were
acquainted with the sender.

I was actually reading
such a letter earlier today.
Mine had been printed.
But in its original form
it was hand-written,
most likely not in pen, but on
some sort of parchment.

These words on the page
clearly poured over and
measured out in a language
I don't speak.

But it has been translated
and carried across many lands
so that I could open it today...
yet careful not to
skim past that greeting.

Grace to you and peace
from God the Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave Himself for our sins,
that He might deliver us
from this present evil age,
according to the will of
our God and Father,
to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen.
Galatians 1:3-5 NKJV

How often I skim past
these opening lines of
the letters of Paul in my effort
to get to the deeper subject
that I believe he has to teach.

When these words he writes
in the greeting could be
a lesson in, and of themselves.

For Paul dearly loves these people.
He had spent time teaching them
as he built up a body of believers,
about the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus, and how he had a personal
encounter with the Lord on the road
as a blinding light.

So Paul certainly knew
first hand what this word
GRACE truly meant.

Grace to you and peace
from God the Father and
our Lord Jesus Christ

This wasn't some churchy word
he threw around casually.

To him, GRACE was a blinding change
in his life from persecuting Christians
in the most zealous way,
turned radically toward winning
souls for Jesus and adding
to the church daily.

So when Paul writes of GRACE
as a greeting, he is offering it
as it was offered to him...
the Lord's favor freely given,
leaning forward for all to receive.

Now this PEACE also is not just
throwing up of our first two fingers
like those of the 1970's might do.
This was the Greek word eirene
which meant "to join, or tie into a whole."

And when all the essential parts of us
are put together, we are much less
frazzled people, less distracted,
less disjointed, less discouraged.

The prefix "dis," as a matter of fact,
means apart. So any of those words
that make life more difficult for us,
beginning with these three letters,
are actually the opposite of PEACE.
Because they are not allowing us
to be joined together in wholeness.

This to be certain is what Paul was
calling for the people of Galatia.

GRACE and PEACE
Are these things that we,
in our own power, are able to gain
and master in our daily lives?

Well, I'm pretty sure I've tried
without success. I'd like to say
that is the case for most of us.

But I do know...
that God is a Master at both of these.
In fact, He is able
to bring them about in our lives
when we are willing to give into Him,
to give over to Him, all that we aren't.

And that is Paul's greeting summed up.
Jesus willingly gave Himself for us
that He might deliver us
from all those things in this world
that pull us apart, that cause us
to be a messy pile of pieces.

Maybe I shouldn't speak for you,
but I'll confess that I'm a messy
pile of pieces... often!
I may not always look it on the outside,
but boy do I feel it on the inside!

And when I open up my
heart, mind, soul and spirit
to God and release these pieces
to Him, He can join them together
into the wholeness... PEACE...
by leaning into me with His love
and GRACE... the favor He willingly
gives without reservation.

All I need to do is accept it.
It is a free gift, no strings attached.

How thankful I am that Paul
greeted us so well, so simply
but so profoundly in this letter
to the Galatians.

Today, I am going to receive
GRACE and PEACE,
knowing that when I lean into Him,
He is leaning into me!

Word of God
train me today...
To slow down and acknowledge
Your greetings if wholeness and favor,
leaning into You.

To give You all the random
pieces of my mess,
knowing that You can join them together
to make a masterpiece out of me.