Face to Face

Imagine you and I plan to meet for coffee. You're there, ready for my arrival. I show up with my brother, my tv, a deck of cards, my ipod, and a treadmill (it looks like a Verizon commercial). We sit down to coffee. While I'm talking with you and drinking my coffee, I'm talking with my brother, watching tv, playing solitaire, listening to music, and walking on my treadmill. Would you feel like we were having quality time? I would hope not. Would you feel valued in the presence of my entourage? Probably not.

Yet, this is what I see happening in our society. I sit at my home, online, watching tv, chatting online with multiple friends, talking on the phone, eating dinner, playing solitaire, and sometimes lifting hand weights...all at the same time! While this is alright once in a while, this is no way to socialize and no way to maintain the close friendships God desires for us, has designed for us, as catalysts of growth for us and others. A smaller and smaller percentage of our conversations anymore are face to face. Every day there are new ways to communicate faceless. Taking into consideration that much of conversation is non-verbal, this is sad and confusing. We are losing the art of live face-to-face conversation. I'd like to see a study on eye contact. I bet our eye contact is not what it used to be.

I think we also do this with God. Whether you are an introvert or extravert, the thought of spending even ten quiet, still minutes face-to-face with God sounds like a lazy waste. It is sad because even ten minutes are so powerful. So, stop, you can do it. You can take the next 10 minutes. Go in Peace.