Forever

Dear Sunsprite, Letter #1

My dear Sunsprite,

It pains me to hear of your recent troubles. You’ve been on my heart, and to hear yours is breaking makes me long for some way to comfort you. Pen and ink can only capture the eloquence of an embrace. A letter is a poor stand-in for a friend’s presence. Yet this is the most I can offer across the great distance between us. For, verily, out of the fullness of the heart, the pen writes.

Perhaps it feels almost futile to you, as well, to exchange meager letters. After all, how could a distant friend know you any better the the ones around you? In truth, I don’t. We were not made for remote companionship. And now you write, telling me how even those closest around you have pushed you away.

Oh, Sunsprite, even now I can hear your whispered wonderings and pleadings. There are teardrop stains on the letter you sent me.

I just try and I try and I try so hard, but people keep leaving me.

I’m tired of living so far away from the only people who seem to care I’m alive.

The feeling of unwantedness is a seemingly endless chasm.

What comfort would it be if I assured you that I - your distant, faraway friend - will always be here for you? In your letter you bewailed tales of past friendships, split asunder from within, of actions wrongly made, of words spoken in enmity. Even now, you hear the echo of our footsteps as we wander the valley of the shadow of death. We can only imagine what lies just beyond the bend.

Yet you and I, Sunsprite, are sisters in Christ, and that bond we share runs deeper than the shadows around us - deeper than the trivial jovialities of this world - deeper than a thousand exchanged letters or all the hours in the world.

Sometimes I will not be the best of friends. Sometimes I may accidentally hurt you. Our time upon this weathered world is brief - a candleflame snuffed out at any moment - but that which waits beyond is far, far better than any life we could have lived here, whether together or apart.

Forever, my dear Sunsprite, is in our souls.

And there is One who loves you, more than I ever could, without requisite or deadline.

Remember that, for us both, even when the valley stretches long and our paths split. Remember that, when the turmoils and conflicts of our worlds try and drag us deeper into a constellation of lies or self-doubts. Remember that, when the rainclouds cover up the morning sun.

I’m proud of you, little Sunsprite.

Your friend,

Marie

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