dear mike,
i had a conversation with you after you declined to publish a letter to the editor of the souderton independent. you suggested i make the letters: less preachy, shorter, local. i just wanted to thank you.
i wasn't real happy about that advice at first but upon reflection and providential circumstances have come to see that it is possible to be less preachy while still acknowledging my God. the thing i believe He pointed out to me was that 'preachy' may rightly point to self-righteous judgmentalism. He directed me to several things i had written and their self-righteousness. quite frankly i became ashamed of myself as i read. self-righteousness stinks to me because i (claim to)believe that neither i nor any other human being can be righteous in themselves but we all must have the righteousness of Christ to be accepted by God.
in talking to friends about the idea of shortness they both thought your advice good. one said, you've heard the saying, 'i was going to write you a short note, but i didn't have time so i wrote a long letter'. the idea being that brevity is good because it forces one to think about what they are saying, what needs to be communicated. he also shared something he had heard from a priest's homily 'what you say should be like a woman's clothing. short enough to cover the essentials and long enough to be revealing'. so thank you for your advice. i will work at it. stephen paine
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