This post is written in partnership with DaySpring for their 21-Day Encouragement Campaign. All opinions are my own.
When I was a kid, my mom took file folders and taped them to our bedroom doors, taping the sides of the folders closed. These little folders taped to our doors became our mailboxes. When we would come in from playing outside, my mom would say in a sing-song voice, “You never can tell when you might get some mail!” My brother and I would take off running to our bedrooms to see what special surprise was in our mailboxes. I remember coming home from school and seeing a big piece of paper taped to the kitchen cabinets — “You never can tell … when you might get some mail!” My mom would put cards or hand written notes inside our little mailboxes. Sometimes we’d have candy or a small gift inside. It was always a surprise and always unexpected. And I think that’s where my love for snail mail came from.
To this day, I love checking the mail. I love opening cards or packages to see what I got — even if it’s something I’ve ordered. I also love sending mail, especially unexpected mail. My mom and I both have an obsession with greeting cards. I have more than I can count, and I could still spend hours in the greeting card section of a store.
Do you love receiving or sending snail mail? It seems like snail mail may have gotten a bit lost in this big world of email and texting. Not too many people write hand written letters anymore. But what a special surprise when you do receive one. Another thing that seems to have gotten lost is encouraging and lifting others up. In our worlds of social media, it’s much more common to see people tearing others down rather than building them up, especially around election time.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 5:29
The Snail Mail Challenge
Today, I’m partnering with DaySpring. Together, we are challenging you to 21 days of encouragement. Starting today, and every day for the next 21 days, I challenge you to send encouragement to someone — anyone — a friend, a family member, a co-worker, or even perhaps a stranger. It doesn’t necessarily have to be through snail mail, but I encourage you to try. Write a letter or short note. Send a greeting card. Send a small treat or gift. Or if you can’t make it to the mailbox every day, send out an encouraging email or Facebook message. Or better yet, speak encouragement into someone face-to-face!
You may be wondering why 21 days. It may seem like a strange number, but studies have shown that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Wouldn’t it be great if one of our habits is encouraging others? That’s way better than biting our fingernails!
So, who’s in? Who’s joining me on this challenge? Share your encouragement on social media by using #1Thes511, #DaySpring, and #LiveYourFaith. I can’t wait to see how you plan to spread sunshine for 21 days straight.
Personally, my all-time favorite greeting cards come from DaySpring. I love that you can order boxes of cards, which ends up saving you a lot of money. Cards these days run in the $5 range in most stores! So it’s a big deal when you can get 12 cards for $6 delivered to your own mailbox! Plus, my secret is to check the clearance section for marked down boxed cards — now that’s a real deal! Some of these cards end up being close to a quarter a piece!
Right now, DaySpring is having a sale where you can get two sets of boxed cards for $10. That’s a total of 24 greeting cards full of encouragement and scripture-based inspiration. They also have Ecards now too, if you aren’t a snail mail gal like myself.
Want Some Sunshine?
As a special surprise, I’ve decided for the next few months I would love to fill your mailboxes with sunshine. Could you use some encouragement? Or perhaps you just love getting mail like me? Either way all you have to do is sign up below, and I’ll be sending out snail mail to you! I want to spread sunshine and fill your mailboxes full of His light.
The sign up form has now been closed. Thanks to everyone who signed up to participate. I can’t wait to send lots of sunshine to fill your mailboxes!
Be sure to follow my Pinterest boards Encouragement and Faith: Christian Living for lots of inspiring posts. You may also want to read:
Ahhhh…. loved this blog! How fun were those days of surprising my kids with snail mail on their doorways. Love my kids so much!
Great deals at DaySpring! Thanks for all the info on the great card sales.
Love the 21 days of encouragement challenge. I accept.
Have a day full of sunshine!
🙂 🙂 🙂
I love this! I’ll make the 21 Day Challenge! I love sending cards and handwritten notes, and I definitely love receiving them. Over the years people have mentioned to me that they always appreciate getting mail, since it is less common now. It’s a simple way to make a real difference for someone.
Oh, I wanted to add that Trader Joe’s has beautiful, high-quality greeting cards for 99 cents (at least in my area). I love to stock up on those!
Great tips. Thanks! We don’t have any Trader Joe’s nearby, but maybe others will.
On Day 16 of my 21 Days of Encouragement, I’m starting to run low on note cards, so I looked up the Dayspring sales. They have some beautiful cards at a great value. Thanks for sharing, Tiffany!
I LOVE their cards! I’m glad you found some you like! And way to go on keeping up with sending out mail! I just sent your piece of sunshine out earlier this week! 🙂
Your sunshine package really brightened my week, Tiffany! Thank you so much. 🙂 The Dayspring cards I ordered also arrived last weekend, and I’m looking forward to using them. I’ve just finished my 21 Days of Encouragement, and it was fun.
I’m glad you got it Kathryn! I also got something special in the mail this week 😉 That was so thoughtful and very unexpected. I loved it. I thought the 21 days went really fast! I plan to keep sending out snail mail as often as I can.