Communication

Lately, I've been thinking about how we communicate. Two hundred years ago, if you moved far away from your family, all you had were handwritten letters. Today, we can call, text, e-mail, blog, send letters, and probably a few other things I haven't thought of. But for all the ways we have to communicate, the face-to-face conversations can be the hardest.

"Hi, how are you?"
"Good, how are you?"
"Good."

Do you even think about your response before you just say "good"? I admit that I don't - this is more like exchanging pleasantries than anything else. What is the point of this exchange? I admit that when people ask, even if there IS something worth saying, I probably won't respond with anything other than "good", and I don't really expect anyone else to do so either. Is it because we don't care, or don't think others care? I'm not sure...I haven't really thought of the psychology behind it. :)

We spend so much time and money communicating, but our most basic exchanges fail completely! For some of us, we'll never actually 'communicate' more than knowing that we're both "good" every week. It's all too easy to do the same with God, maybe even easier since we don't run into Him at the water cooler or have to stand awkwardly next to Him in an elevator. It can be so easy to fall into routines and a lack of true communication with each other and with God. We need to keep it fresh and keep communicating. After all, what's a body that doesn't know if the foot is hurting or broken, or can't feel the hand sitting on the burner?

So I'm challenging you to think about your communication skills. Consider how you start your conversations with people - are you *honestly* good? Do you actually want to know how the other person is? Go deeper! You don't have to share your life story, but maybe say why you're good, or bad, or excellent! We are so fortunate to have such a diverse body, which only means that we should have that much more to share.

Go forth and communicate!