Thoughtful Thursday

This weeks Thoughtful Thursday is a Devotional "Love Deeply" by Robin Milstead...

I have a confession to make…I am a “closet technology geek”. Before this brings images to your mind of the nerdy A/V (audio/visual) people from high school with pencil protectors in their front pockets, let me explain. I really like learning new computer programs and technical gadgets. I just learned how to use a program called “Snag-It” and I had a lot of fun using it to create some training quick references for work.

BUT – as much as I am intrigued by the world of computer technology, part of me yearns for human connections. For quite a while I have felt this urge to connect with other Sisters in Christ on a much deeper and more intimate level. Although many of us wouldn’t know what to do without our PC’s, laptops, cell phones, IPODs and Blackberry’s we’ve fallen into the trap of “superficial communication”. We are inundated with countless emails and instant messages from so called “cyber friends”. We have 200 friends on “Face Book” but not one single best friend we see face-to-face and spend quality time with. All of this has resulted in a new epidemic of loneliness.

Unfortunately the American dream of “Self-Sufficiency” has spilled over into the Body of Christ. We come and go on a Sunday like a whirlwind, barely taking time to catch our breath. We say we “know” so many in the congregation, yet how much do we really know about our brothers in sisters in Christ. I mean really, really “know” them in a deep heartfelt way?

I Peter 4:8 tells us to love each other deeply. Our culture teaches us to love on the surface, superficially. So, how can we learn to love deeply? We need to make time for one another. I am guilty of communicating via email because it is so convenient, but at what cost? Let’s take the time to pick up the phone and ask a sister “How are you?” and really mean it. Make time to visit one another face to face and linger over a cup of tea or coffee. Open up your heart and come vulnerable again.

I think that my parents’ generation had their perspectives in the right place. They took the time to know one another. They “visited” one another and came to each others homes just to have a cup of coffee and chat. Back then we knew our neighbors and they were truly our friends. Kids played together, grew up together and loved one another. Let’s go back to the time of encouragement, vulnerability and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

So I am challenging you to pick up the phone, get together with your Sister in Christ and really make the time for one another. After all, when it comes down to it, we all want to be “loved” and to be “known”.

~Robin Milstead