Write the Word

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I am old enough to remember a time before email, cell phones, iPods, Facebook, Twitter and texting. I remember a time when people would sit on their front porches and talk to their neighbors and wave at cars as they passed on the street. I remember a time when people would rather talk face-to-face than electronically. And ... I remember many of those personal conversations ... conversations that changed me, conversations that moved me, conversations that made me laugh or cry, conversations that hurt me, conversations that healed me.

I have a theory about electronic communication ... I think it's an "out" for many people when the subject matter is difficult. It's hard to look a friend in the eye and apologize for your words or actions. It's hard to sit across the table from a man who is telling you he needs a break from your relationship. It's hard to speak one-on-one with a family member and confront her about her inappropriate behavior. By avoiding those difficult eyeball-to-eyeball conversations, however, I think we open a door to the lack of personal communication on every level and often rob ourselves of some true blessings that flow from talking ... really talking ... to another person.

As I thought about this whole concept ... how little we actually talk face-to-face in today's world ... I began to think about the way that God communicates with me. As far as I know, God doesn't email, and He doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter account. He talks to me on a real and personal level through prayer and His Word. He wants to know me, really know me, from the inside out. And He wants me to know Him the same way ... He wants me to delight in His Word, to seek Him out, to look forward to every conversation with Him.

It's not a coincidence, I believe, that God has me thinking about the whole communication thing at this time in my life. I received an email from someone a few days ago that said, "I'm glad you are blogging because that's the only way I know you're still alive." I've thought about her message a lot over the last few days ... I've thought about how quiet I am now, apart from the words I write. I've thought about a conversation that I had with someone a week or so ago ... a rare personal conversation for me in the place where I currently find myself ... in which the person encouraged me to "write the Word," to go to God's Word and not just read it, but to write it out on paper. Not on a computer, not via blog or email, but to hand write God's Word ... His way of personally speaking to me ... on paper, and then to post those written-out verses in places where I will see them every day. I've thought about the suggestion, rolled it around in my mind, but I haven't done it. Yet.

Maybe God has me thinking about conversation because He has something He wants me to listen to. Maybe God has me thinking about writing the Word because He has something He wants me to learn from the process. Maybe God has me thinking about Him because He has something He wants me to ... maybe God has me thinking about Him because He wants me to.