I’m a big fan of receiving hand-written notes from people. Most of my refrigerator is covered with hand-written notes from a whole variety of people. Whether it’s a birthday card, Christmas letters, or even a random note I will hold onto those notes and cards for weeks, sometimes even years, and plaster them all over my fridge and my office wall.

There’s something about reading how someone communicates their thoughts in their own handwriting. The loops, the curls, the lines, they’re all uniquely combined for a custom font of its own. Programmers have tried to create electronic forms of people’s handwriting, some with success, others…not so much. Like natural acoustics you can’t fully replicate someone’s handwriting.

It’s not just the quality of the handwriting that matters to me. Some of the notes that I have kept the longest have come from three and four year-olds from my time working in children’s ministry. Most of these notes are hardly notes at all but just a stick-figured drawing with my name, Jon, scrawled on the bottom with a backwards J at the beginning. Priceless.

There’s something about taking the time, five minutes at most, to sit down, grab a card, and write out a note or a letter to someone. Anyone can pound out a quick email and click send without a second thought. Hand-written notes take time and attention and thought.

It may seem old-fashioned and maybe a bit weird coming from a guy who loves technology but there’s something classy and meaningful about sending a well-written note to someone. Take five minutes, spend the extra cents on a stamp, and make someone’s day. Maybe you’ll see that note again on their fridge the next time you’re at their house.