Wednesday, January 23, 2008

PostSecret


I have developed an interesting love for the PostSecret website and books. For those of you who do not know what that is, Frank Warren started a project where he handed out blank postcards and told people to write a secret on them. He had his address and a stamp on the opposite side, and waited to see what happened. Well it turns out people were more willing to send in their secrets. Now a few years have passes and people send in hundreds of postcards a day. Each individually decorated, with a different secret. Frank has made three books out of these postcards, the last one was just recently released. Check it out here.

Anyway, the secrets that people send in are often a mixture of emotions. Many people have responded saying that sending in their secret has allowed them to move on from it. Allowed them to get away from it. Sometimes telling one person, helps them to heal. It is so interesting the different types of secrets that get sent in. Some are sad, happy, sexual, strange, scary, and a mix of everything. This website, or the books can often be a little more than G rated, but the time and effort someone has put into making sure people knew how they felt is astounding. There has been a number of times where I have looked at a post card and thought that I could have sent that very same thing. The fact that there are people in the world that deal with things that I have dealt with, or are going through things that I go through, in some strange way...gives me hope. Hope not only for my slef, but for the fact that God can reach these people. The ones that are hurting, the ones that don't know where to turn, the ones that feel lost. God can save them.

Alyssa and I have gone into a bookstore and sat down and read the PostSecret books. We will laugh at a few of them, talk about some other ones, and just experience them together. But after we leave there is often a strange silence. Silence for me because these are things I can't stop thinking about. Silence for her, for reasons we haven't talked about. But after all of that emotion is poured out from those books, there is not much to talk about. Often, there is not much to say.

Maybe I am over analyzing this. Maybe not. Either way, I really encourage you guys to look into it. It is an amazing thing to see. He usually updates the site on Sunday, so if you are interested, go and check it out. You can see it here.


Maybe one day we could all be this honest with each other.

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