Communication: Phone calls, voicemail, text, IM’s, Skype, Facetime, Zoom – WOW!
Communication has come a long way in the past 50+ years. I remember when I was a small girl there was a postage stamp container on my Grandma’s desk. It held one hundred, Lincoln four cent stamps. That’s all it cost to mail a letter. Next to the stamp container was a big black, desktop, corded, rotary dial telephone.
I also remember that “long distance” phone calls could only be made on weekends, preferrably Sunday afternoons or late in the evenings because the rate for the call was lower. Even then, they were only made once every two or three weeks. We were limited to how long we could talk to friends on the phone, there was no call waiting, so we couldn’t tie up the phone too long. The phone was centrally located, generally on a desk or the wall in the kitchen. No real private conversations. My husband’s memories of one of their first phones was a party line. Several households used the same phone line and you only answered calls that came through with your assigned ring pattern – one long ring, three short, two long rings with one short. You get the idea. And anyone on the line could listen in to your call.
Today, households all across America will be making calls and sending text messages to loved ones that aren’t able to be with us. I have one friend who said she was going to Facetime with her daughter and teach her how to make stuffing according to their family recipe.
We’ll see familiar faces although they are hundreds of miles away and take it all for granted. Making sure there is a strong signal and that batteries are fully charged seems to be the only real consideration.
I still know some old timers who still love to write letters instead of emails and make phone calls to speak personally instead of texting. But the communication I love the best is the one that is as close as my next breath or fills my heart when it is heavy and there seems to be no words.
Jeremiah, a prophet in the Old Testament, was locked up in prison when he had God speak to him. No low battery, lack of cell service, no dropped calls or full voicemail would prevent a call from going through.
“While Jeremiah was still shut up in the open space of the prison, the Word of the Lord came to him a second time, saying, 2 “This is what the Lord says Who made the earth. The Lord made it to last. The Lord is His name. 3 ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you. And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.’” Jeremiah 33:1-3 NLV
No smart phone needed. No multi-gig data plan. No fee. Unlimited service.
Just want to say hello – call. Need direction – call; need help – call; need the miraculous – call; need a loving touch – call!
Call Him today, He’s waiting to show you the wonderful plans He has in store and I’m thankful for that!
