Phones

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
  I will be exalted in the earth.

 Psalm 46:10

MOntana 1-6002. That was my phone number when I was growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s how we used to do it. No area code. The MO were the letters associated with numbers on the rotary phone. You see a rotary phone…

No, I will not go into the weeds with that. You either know that or you don’t. If you don’t, you missed out on some interesting times from the “wayback machine”. You see the wayback machine… Never mind.

Our understanding of phones now is light years away from the 1957 version of phones. Back then, we were on a party line. So, if Mrs. Mangold was on the phone with her friend (and when wasn’t she?) you had to wait to use the phone until she was finished with her stories. Yes, I might have listened in on a few stories, but they were not very interesting, and I was usually upset that I could not talk to my friends if she was hogging the phone line.

Today, phones are so ingrained into our lives that we are never more than an arm’s length away from one- literally. I have come to the point that if I am not otherwise occupied with something for more than a few minutes, I am reaching for the phone to scroll ESPN, or Facebook, or some other distraction because my brain is always looking for stimulation.

No, that is not progress my friends. It has become part of my routine, and it is not always the best thing to do. Because instead of just experiencing life moment by moment, relishing the peace of no distractions, I find myself looking for some kind of stimuli.  

Yes, it can be helpful when I cannot remember the name of that actor in that movie we saw a few weeks ago. I just look it up, and my memory, which is not as good as it used to be, is suddenly enhanced by the miracle of the hand-held internet.

Yes, technology is amazing, and I am not technology averse. Technology is great, as long as it does not rob us of the peace of just living in the moment with no external distractions.

Prayer: Lord, help us to experience the joy of peace in a quiet moment, Amen