Penmanship

Centered comfortably on a cream colored sofa chair, Laurietta King looks out pensively to gather affirmative words in Perris, California. Gigantic green balloons float against the backdrop of kilned foothills outside her home just broken in like a pair of shoes. Distance has removed her far from the Beach’s Pacific breeze. The baking heat keeps her inside for the sake of another who cannot wait for her loving reply. Around the country these prisoners are stacked upon one another like these white envelopes.

One hand written single loose leaf response to a yellow legal letter written to her from prisoners around the country. This letter is the first among the piles stacked up on the arm rests on both sides. It’s not a king’s throne. It is a seat of remembrance. She has her system as the system keeps interest on their captives. A life and soul encased in each envelope; stamped.  The cross country train of communication not instantly allows each to each to breathe. Something to look forward to during the service of a sentence. Punishment inside the penitentiary. Correction in the pen’ for short. The sentences are all different. Each one matters individually and collectively. All sentences are pinned to the cross. No condemnation dwells inside those who are inside the resurrected, Jesus Christ. Now, stamped by his Spirit.

There are boxes stacked up around her because she needs to move again. One is labeled “Mama’s Room.” Gold foil encyclopedia books behind her chronicling world history, what was once private is not so private anymore. The moments spent to encourage loved ones locked in concrete cells are the true form of investment with interest-baring accounts. These words are brave and will not be put away. The loose leaf is released in heaven and earth. Living in an age where glass top computers forsake the sacred beauty of penmanship. Not writing prisoners is like dropping the call and/or the smartphone lying about it’s own useful wit. It’s jagged pieces flow from the heart to the icy capillaries on finger points.

Sender. Receiver. The meanings carried forward. There is more beyond the binding of the bible, printed words and the authors inspired by God. The captured image is set free by the words hidden within the millions of pixels. They jump out at me with the clairvoyance of the calling within the meditations of my heart.  As it is written, the author and finisher of my faith has given me a graceful relationship through Christ, the Messiah. It is not skipped over. The letters from prison remind me of the promise. There is no chain that can withhold me from eternal life. The lamp reveals our stamps. My eyes are fixed. “I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” The fixings have been prepared. God will never stop his call to love one another. He’s called you. Check your messages.

“Keep on loving each other as brothers…Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Hebrews 13: 1-3