Back
in the day, my Greg and I dated long distance.
We used this very neat invention called the telephone. It was heavy and bulky and was tied to the
wall by an unsightly cord. We used this
system called “long distance.” Because I
was just out of college and had little money we even used the system called “a
collect call.”
More astonishing were other modes of
communication. We actually learned to
take a piece of paper and beginning writing.
We would write of our hearts desire to be together. After folding the paper, we would find what
they called an envelope, place the paper inside and lick the envelope
closed. We then proceeded to lick a stamp
and place it on the outside of the envelope, place it in the mail…and three or
four days later Viola! The other would receive a hand-written letter.
In an attempt to be my man’s
“Sweetheart” I also tried to be spiritual by closing my letter with III John 13
and 14
“I have much to write you,
but I do not want to do so with pen and
ink.
I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face
to face.”
In studying III John this week I
enjoyed reminiscing about these verses as they pertain to our dating
experience. But the Lord showed me how our culture is causing me to be less and
less engaged. It is far to easy to leave
a voice mail, email or text in an attempt to communicate. (And forget Skype or face time. Horrors! I
don’t want you to see how I look!)
It is becoming far too easy in our
culture of to disengage in individual lives.
So why mention this in this “mommy
blog” because I am modeling this engagement to our children. Our teenager and young twenties children,
need to see their parents engaging others.
They need to see us meeting “face to face” with friends and others. They need to see the value of having
relationships that flourish and have value that far exceed a “like” on
Insta-gram or a new friend request on Facebook.
I encourage you to keep having
playdates with your children at Chik-fil-A and meet with your girlfriends at
Starbucks.
If I could rewrite the III
John’s exhortation it would look like this…
“I could write this ridiculously long text,
filled with Emojies and tone
and inflection
you don’t get,
Or we can just meet at Starbucks
and I
can tell you face to face.”
Moms, engage with others. Find time, make time. Give new meaning to “Face
Time!”
