The Privilege of Audience

Jan 17, 2022

Have you ever mused on the great privilege it is to have someone, anyone, read what you write?

Let’s look back to a bygone age. We’ll call it “B.E.”—for “before email.”

Before email became our primary means of written communication, how did we touch the hearts of those we loved? Well, we wrote letters. We mailed them. We slipped them into school lockers of sweethearts. Our spirits soared when we received them.

Yes, we also sent birthday cards, and still do. And Christmas cards, too, though even that tradition is fading.

But we poured our souls’ longings into our letters.

A letter sent by a son in uniform stationed on some far distant shore. A letter received by that same young soldier at mail call. A handwritten missive from a newlywed daughter far from home.

Love letters. Remember those?

A letter from a dear friend, or perhaps from a taciturn father who poured the love he rarely spoke of into a somewhat clumsy but heartfelt letter.

Such letters were precious. As we dropped them in the mail, did we pause for a moment, stirred that our words would be read by someone we held dear? Whether you ever had such an experience or not, you certainly can imagine it, can’t you?

Try remembering that precious feeling when you write, for that someone is today still waiting for your letters. That someone is your audience, whether it is an audience of one or thousands.

Envision who you are writing to. Never forget what a beautiful soul she is. And touch that heart, that audience, with your letter of light.

Every time.