Keepers

In preparation for this week’s sermon, I’ve been going through my file of Keepers.

When I receive an email or a card or—less frequently—a full-blown hand-written letter, I mindfully take in the words. I didn’t always do this. I used to think that thank you notes were obligatory things that people wrote, and I didn’t fully take in people’s appreciation.

Honestly, I used to dismiss words of appreciation. I figured people were just being nice. Or just seeing something they wanted to see in me. I guess I thought I had people fooled. If they really knew me, they wouldn’t have such kind things to say.

Yes, Imposter Syndrome is a nasty beast. But at some point, I started taking people’s words of appreciation more seriously. And while I wouldn’t say I never wrestle with Impostor Syndrome now, that beast certainly has less teeth than it once did.

Now when I receive an email or a card or a letter from someone, I can spend a moment and really take in the words. Sometimes I read them more than once. And every so often, a message is so meaningful that I put it in a special file labeled Keepers.

My Keepers file is intended to be something I look at on occasion, when I’m feeling particularly uncertain about whether I’m making a difference, or after a moment when I fail to live up to my own (admittedly high) expectations. Re-reading someone’s words of appreciation is an important reminder about how I’ve influenced the world around me. Not to put too fine a point on it, but my Keepers remind me of my lovability and worth.

I don’t think I’m the only person who ever wrestles with feeling lovable or worthy. Maybe it isn’t something that ever concerns you personally. I get the impression, though, that a lot of human beings need a reminder once in a while. A reminder that they are loved and appreciated. That their actions made a difference. That they are enough just as they are.

Some of the messages in my Keepers file have been there a long time, and I don’t re-read them nearly as often as I intend to. But this week, I’ve been looking through them. Taking them in. Letting the words seep into my soul.

I hope you have a Keepers file of your own. A drawer of thank you notes or love letters or cards in which someone has filled every inch of space with words of appreciation for you. Or an email folder with kind words someone has taken the time to type and send.

And I hope you take time to re-read those words more often than I do. So you don’t ever forget how amazing you are and what a difference you make in other people’s lives.

Beyond that, I hope that you take the time to send that hand-written note or thank you card to someone you appreciate. That loving act might have more meaning than you’ll ever know. That card or note might be the Keeper that someone re-reads years from now to find reassurance and comfort and hope.