April 21, 2025 — You Are A Spirit

My Friend,

If I’m any good at this, then you probably thought last week’s letter was unexpected. Perhaps it’s my fault, but if you assumed this friendship would be an album of candid compliments, you were quite wrong. I take my responsibility as your friend very seriously, and my guess is that these letters are your last resort. My guess is that you’re getting ready to throw in the towel, and I’ve only got one chance to prove to you that this life is worth living. Given these things, I have no intention of wasting time to fluff up your ego and tell you how amazing you are. Instead I’m going to show you. In a way that will make you wildly uneasy.

For your next step on this journey, I have some questions for you, and over this next week I want you to try and answer all of them:

Where were you when you read my first letter?

Why did you keep reading?

Why did you care about what I had to say?

What does your life look like right now?

Is there any joy inside of you?

Are you free?

Who do you love?

Why?

If they disappeared tomorrow, could you carry on?

Would you have a source for strength to endure the heartache?

Or would you sever your own future with a reaction of desperate addiction?

Would you be left abandoned in a pit of hopelessness?

Would you be most apt to pick up a bottle or a Bible?

Would you blame God for the pain, or would you understand that He isn’t the author of your sorrow?

The truth is, most of us would choose the bottle. Correction—most of us do choose the bottle, regardless of whether or not we admit it out loud.

To be perfectly clear, I don’t care about the picture-perfect image you portray to the world. I don’t care about who you pretend to be. That stuff is fake.

I care about who you actually are. The person that comes out when you’re alone.

So, that begs the question: who are you?

In order to answer that, I want you to go find a mirror and stare at yourself.

Take a long look into your own eyes.

Stare with intention for an uncomfortable length of time.

Search.

What do you see?

If you’re actually doing it, after a few moments you’re going to start to dissociate.

Staring into the mirror, begin to recognize the alarming distinction between your body… and you.

You exist in a shell.

But the shell isn’t who you are.

Now reach out and touch the mirror. As you do, refrain from allowing yourself to feel the coolness of the glass against the pads of your fingers. Don’t align your thoughts with your body as it moves, just watch it happen.

Am I rocking you yet?

This, my friend, is your first step to grasping an imperative truth: you are a spirit. Your body lives and breathes. But your spirit—the part of you that can separate when you stare at yourself in the mirror—that’s the real you. You are more than the simple nature that your eyes can see.

Until next week, dwell on these things, and walk back to that mirror as many times as you need.

Sincerely,

Your Faithful Friend