Category: Gratefulness

It’s the simple things. I don’t have to climb any more mountains for I have stood on the peaks already. I’ve floated on faith in the rivers at the bottom and found victories in the valleys.

Who are they?

Where did they come from? Have they always lived here?

Are there children? Pets?

Who are their parents/grandparents?

What do they do for a living?

What do they do in their free time?

What are their stories?

I know it’s none of my business, but I can’t help but wonder as I creep by the houses. What else am I supposed to do while driving this slow?

I try not to stare. I know that some of these houses have cameras pointing toward the road, catching the cars that drive by. Noticing the people who are looking for a reason to come back.

I am not coming back for anything. I’m just following my husband on the tractor, letting my mind wander a bit as we go.

I remember growing up that we knew our neighbors. We talked to them, went to church with them, sometimes worked with them. We sat on our porches and waved as they came out into their yards. We invited them over for dinner. Kids went outside and played with other kids. Do people do that anymore? Are we so busy that we don’t take time to get to know them? Are our noses stuck in our phones so much that we don’t look up to notice? Have people developed such anxiety and fear of other people?

Don’t take this the wrong way because I do scroll my social media to “catch up” with what my friends are doing, but maybe it’s time we put the phone down, unplugged, and invited the neighbor over for coffee instead? Yes, I know that can be risky. And I know that shrinks our world because we have family and friends who live so far away. I’m not saying technology doesn’t have its place and hasn’t made some things better. But sometimes, it’s made things worse.

Human connection has been replaced by screens and people don’t know how to treat each other anymore. We don’t trust each other. We don’t respect each other. We don’t know each other at a level that we used to. 

Today I am taking my own advice and having lunch with a friend I’ve had since kindergarten. ☺ We go way back to the time when there were no cell phones, social media, or cyber-bullying. We rode our bikes down to the creek. We played school in the old, abandoned house across the road. We sat up and talked all night. We recorded songs off the radio. We sat and ate cereal at her kitchen table. And we built a connection that even my family moving away when I was 14 couldn’t erase. Back in the time of long distance phone calls and no internet, we were able to keep that friendship alive even though we didn’t talk and see each other very often. There were even handwritten letters that we mailed through the mail. 

I know, times have changed, but don’t lose what’s important. Connection trumps technology every time.