Across the World

Since joining Postcrossing, an international postcard-swapping project, my mailbox has been overflowing with love. Postcards in all shapes and sizes have found me every month. Sometimes I read them together with Ifo and admire the photos, often chatting about the differences in the cultures between the sender and myself.

Since January 2013, when I sent my first postcard to New York, I've sent 31 cards to Postcrossing members in 24 countries and received more than 40 in return. They come from Netherlands, South Africa, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, Canada, Romania, and dozens of other places.

And each carries just a little piece of the sender. While I love the photos, what I love best is actually reading the words scrawled on each. The handwriting completely fascinates me; curly, somber, precise, delicate. I love learning about the lives of people in far-flung places; places I've never seen and may never see. Members usually have a short "about me" section on their profile, and I can't count the number of times I read about someone else's interests and think, "Hey! Me too!"

People are readers. And writers. They're photographers and music lovers and daughters. They're parents and boyfriends, travelers and dreamers. They have ambitions. And so many of them tell you about their dreams, things that might be easier to share with me, a stranger, than someone they love.

There's a sort of magic through the shared experiences, through knowing that the card in my hand, bent at the corners, once sat on the table or desk or lap of someone in a foreign nation. Someone wrote it out, forming letters meant only for me. And these cards traversed the globe to land right in my hands in Malaysia.

Though the hobby isn't exactly cheap, it's brought me so much joy. The cost of a postcard and international stamp (60 cents) doesn't bother me nearly as much as the idea of never seeing brightly-colored notes in my mailbox again.

And So I Write

I've missed blogging this past week. Though lately, my posts have become more and more sporadic, there's something freeing about sitting down and writing. I've always loved writing, ever since I was little, stringing words together to create something has excited me. And blogging gives me the arena to say what I need to say, gives me room to write what's on my heart. Writing is a passion and I'm grateful for the gift of this little online journal of mine.

There are many things I've been pondering lately. I'm in a new season of life and there are countless changes and choices coming up. Decisions and new paths that are necessary, yet hard. Because while change can be good, it's still tinged with melancholy. There's that sense of remembering what's gone and wishing for it, even though the future holds brighter promise than the past could have contained.

I'm working on several changes in my life right now; managing my time better. I lose time like leftover change, and unlike those bright pennies, time that's been wasted can't be found again. It's gone forever. And in my life, I've been coming the conclusion more and more that I need to work on how I spend my time. I long to be diligent, intentional, and authentic. Yet sometimes I view change as something that will just happen, and bam! There's a new me.

Change, however, is usually a gradual process; an incline that gets steeper along the journey and sometimes, you don't think that you'll ever reach the top. I'll always keep growing. But it's not a one time thing, not a spontaneous and instantaneous action that immediately transforms you. All that I can do is take my life as it is, a blessing, a day at a time and gradually grow into someone better. I choose to live intentional.

I fail, I flounder, fake, and fall down. We put ourselves into places from our sin that are far from Him. Yet He is always there, and no matter what, He is good. It's a choice to everyday live for Him. A life lived for Him isn't easy but it's the best kind of life there could be. I deeply desire to live a life that's meaningful, one that matters. A defined life is one that's lived for God. That's a life that I want to live. That's a life I'm going to live. There's no more "I'll do this tomorrow." Or putting it aside. I only have today and I won't let this gift of now fall by the wayside.

I have one life to live and I'm going to live it.

p.s: For those asking, yes, I'm currently working on a story. It's not finished yet. In the meantime, I'm planning to restart the short fictions on my blog. There are so many drafts at the moment and I'll publish them when the time comes. ^^