Old friends and reading in bed

Yesterday I was walking home feeling a wee bit despondent and lonely, to tell the truth. I checked the letterbox, as I always do, with a small amount of hope, though I’m not even sure what for, as rarely is there anything worth hoping for in there. But yesterday the letter box had within it a hand-written letter from a dear old friend.

In this letter she shared about a recent sermon on singleness called The Unimportance of Marriage (don’t worry folks, there was one on The Importance of Marriage too) at my old church in Tamworth (after some time in Sydney she now lives back there) and how God was changing her, she also copied out some of what was written on the front of a church newsletter on prayer (which I think must actually be a reprint of this), she wrote to me about novels she has been reading that I have now added to my list, about another book on Romans 8 called How the Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home by Derek W.H. Thomas (I think I need to get this book), about her upcoming holiday (she is going to the Channel Islands and Iceland and the Hay-on-Wye book festival! - and she asked me if I wanted to come last year, but I thought travelling overseas again was not something I should invest in just now, and I am having regrets), about what she thought of the latest Jane Eyre movie, then she shared some Haikus from a book she bought in the Narnia Bookshop in Tamworth.

By the end of the letter I had tears running down my face. It was nice to reminded of a long and deep friendship, that there are those out there who share my values and delights, who enjoy my company. I was positively cheered.

Here is one of the Haikus (though it’s not the standard 17 syllables) she shared, with the comment “doesn’t that poem evoke a lovely image of being snuggled in bed, oblivious to the world outside and fully absorbed in a wonderful book?”. Indeed.

reading in bed

my pulse flickering

the lightly held bookmark

 - Michael Dylan Welch