Matt Conner writes for Relevant Magazine about a lesson he was taught in the grocery check out line about relationships and dealings with humans.
I mentioned the self-checkout lines, asking when they planned on getting them fixed and that I missed them, as if they were some ex-girlfriend who had left me recently. The guy in front of me shrugged and turned and simply said, “I prefer to deal with humans.”
We all have a trade or vocation. I am a pastor. My currency is relationships. My clientele is humanity. Business is good, so to speak, when I am highly involved with the lives of the people around me. And it was the unkempt, lazy-eyed man in front of me who is better at my job than I am.
E-mail and text messaging are my preferred means of communication. They’re fast, they’re easy and they’re on my time schedule – not anyone else’s. But lately I’ve heard some backlash about text messaging from friends. They get annoyed by prayer requests sent over an electronic cell phone. I don’t think it’s the prayer request themselves – it’s the medium they’re conveyed. They’d rather me or someone else pick up the phone and share them. Why text messages differ from e-mails I’m not sure. But either way I still think there’s a desire to deal with humans than a cell phone, computer or other machine.
We (I) must work harder at building those relationships. We’ve got to get down and get our hands dirty in relationships. Stop and answer a phone call. Stop and visit a friend.
While our society has never been more connected we’ve also never been more disconnected on a personal level.
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