Ruth loved Sundays.

Every Sunday after church, she would sit beneath a beautiful lilac tree with her best friend, LoLa.

One Sunday, LoLa was very quiet.

Ruth gently took her hand.

“Why are you so sad today?” she asked.

A tear rolled down LoLa’s cheek.

“I miss my best friend so much,” she whispered. “I wish I could tell her how much I love her.”

Ruth thought for a moment, then smiled gently.

“Would you like to write her a letter and place it in my Letters to Heaven Box?”

LoLa looked up. “Letters to Heaven Box? What’s that?”

Ruth pointed softly toward the sky.

“After I read in the Bible about Jacob’s dream of a stairway reaching to heaven, I imagined something beautiful,” she said. “I imagined a special box where people could write letters to the ones they miss.”

LoLa listened closely.

“Every Sunday,” Ruth continued, “people bring their letters to church. We place them in the box together. Then, in my imagination, I picture the box resting at the bottom of that heavenly stairway.  I imagine God’s angels coming down, carrying every letter  back to God in Heaven.”

LoLa was quiet for a moment.

“What do people write in their letters?” she asked softly.

Ruth smiled.

“They write about happy memories. Birthdays. Holidays. Funny stories. And all the things they wish they could still say. Most of all, they write, ‘I love you.’”

LoLa’s eyes filled again, but this time something in her heart felt a little warmer.

“So I could tell her everything in my heart?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Ruth said gently. “Love never stops, even when someone we love is no longer here with us.”

LoLa found a piece of paper and began to write.

She wrote about the memories she treasured.

She wrote about how much she missed her best friend.

She wrote about all the little things she wished they could still share.

And at the bottom, she wrote:

“I love you.”

When she finished, she carefully folded the letter and placed it inside the Letters to Heaven Box.

Then she closed her eyes and prayed.

“Dear God, thank You for my best friend. Please hold her close until I see her again. And thank You for always holding me close, too. Amen.”

That evening, Ruth walked to her favorite place beneath the lilac tree.

She gently placed the Letters to Heaven Box there.

As the wind moved softly through the branches, Ruth looked up at the stars.

In her heart, she imagined the heavenly stairway from Jacob’s dream.

Ruth pictured God’s love reaching from heaven to earth, holding every tear and every letter.

As the days passed, something began to happen in their town.

Sad people began to feel happier after writing their letters.

They shared memories they had almost forgotten.

They spoke names they had been afraid to say.

And slowly, love filled the empty spaces grief had left behind.

Ruth understood something very important.

God hears every prayer.

God sees every tear.

God’s love never leaves us—not even for a moment.

Sometimes we cannot hug the people we miss.

Sometimes we cannot hear their voices.

But we can always remember them.

We can always love them.

And we can always talk to God.

And when we do, we are never alone.