It just doesn’t seem like people send greeting cards via good old mail much anymore. To many, it seems so much easier to jot off a text or Facebook post wishing someone congratulations, or thanks or even an invitation. Birthday cards, which were once a pretty big part of birthdays, are often now a single line on Facebook or a hashtag message on Twitter.
You just can’t compare how a person feels seeing your bright envelope and handwriting among a zillion birthday greetings online. Sending an actual birthday card is like a little part of you reached out and gave the person a big hug.
We can’t explain how it happens, but somehow more than ink gets stuffed inside those birthday cards. Sounds a bit dramatic perhaps – but you know that there is an experience to getting a card and it is hard to put into words.
The other great thing about birthday cards is that they can help the birthday celebration go on and on. At our house, birthday cards are displayed on the kitchen table for at least a week. Then they move to the kitchen window sill before being lovingly stored with all the cards from previous years. For a week or two there is this riot of colorful paper screaming out “You are loved!”
Christian birthday cards remind us that someone loves us and they remind us that God loves us. The reminder of His love is enough to lift our hearts even if the social network birthday wishes are few and there was just that one, single card in the mail. His love is more than sufficient. Talk about packing the envelope!
It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. The same could be said about writing personal cards: ink is mightier than online typeface. A Christian birthday card that can be held in the hand, read and re-read, and saved for future comfort simply cannot be replaced.
So, while it may currently be in vogue to be too busy to pick out a card, pen a message, affix a stamp, address it and drop it in the mailbox, the pendulum is about to swing back. The emptiness of hurried electronic greetings is too unsatisfying. Sending a Christian birthday card to a literal mailbox makes a difference. The Printery House makes it easy to order birthday cards, and the few minutes you spend writing a line or two inside is invaluable.