It is always amazing to me how things that have been around my entire lifetime suddenly pop up as something with a new meaning, something to think about in a different way.
As I was driving in Bella Vista the other day, I noticed how many electrical wires ran from utility pole to utility pole back and forth over Forest Hills Boulevard. The poles are of different heights and different configurations, but most of them had five wires. Because there are neighborhoods on both sides of the street, and all of the houses require electricity, the wires need to cross back and forth.
Some were in the sun and had a different look than those in the shade of the trees. Some had birds sitting on them. And while they all seemed to be doing the same thing, it became more and more fun to observe them and how many there were.
When I arrived at the intersection of Arkansas 279 and U.S. 71, I needed to wait for the light to change. I looked across the street and behind The Jug Store there were wires galore! Oh my gosh, too many to even count and all carrying electricity to and from ... something, somewhere. Ah ha ... there is a substation that contributes to the increased number of wires.
While probably very few of these, if any, were telephone wires, they did make me think about how those connected the world back in the days of land lines.
You called the person to whom you wished to speak and when they answered the two of you could talk to each other. You could actually hear each other's voices. You could share information. Sometimes it was happy, sometimes not, but it gave you the opportunity to love, support, help, inform.
It was the way to stay connected to family living hundreds of miles apart. You could ask questions, offer opinions, chat to grandkids. You could make appointments, place orders, call schools, churches and the offices of businesses you needed to deal with. And in those days gone by, you heard a voice. You talked to a real person!
Today we connect at the touch of a thumb through something called a cloud, but most of this new technology doesn't bring us together, voice-to-voice ... except maybe Skype. It is amazing how the sound of joy in the voice of a grandchild can make my heart sing, how my sister and I can laugh at a joke and I can hear the chuckle in her voice, or when my husband calls me I can hear his mood in the sound of his voice.
I am a people person and love to interact with others person-to-person. I respect the advance of technology and understand the need for most of it.
However, there are a few habits resulting from modern phones that I will never understand, and one of them is two people sitting at a table together at a restaurant not talking to each other but each texting away on their phones. Why go out together if you don't want to talk to each other? You can text at home for a lot less money.
I am sure it is an "I'm from the older generation" thing, but it really does seem to come across as negative to me.
As I was thinking about the hundreds of wires and how necessary they are, I have to say I began to wonder if we can connect to one another without a physical means. There are no phone lines to God and He doesn't text that I'm aware of. Yet we talk to Him on a regular basis and listen for His answers. Perhaps that is what we mean by the power of prayer.
We seek His help, His healing for others, tell Him when we hurt and ask how to live our lives in His name. Yes, we connect to others here on earth in many ways, but when it comes to God, to pray is the way.
I believe He understands and hears me when I come to Him in prayer. I plan to continue talking to Him and listening for His answer and no wires or clouds will be required. How about you?
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Burgess moved to Bella Vista in 1995. She considers each day a gift -- although some are more fun to open than others.
Religion on 07/15/2015