The Beauty of Communication

One of the biggest people in my life right now is out of the country 7 hours ahead of Central time.  With the time change and just the fact that Sean is off vacationing in a foreign country with spotty WiFi, I've had a chance to really think about the beauty of communication.

Since Sean and I both work together and are housemates - we are used to talking every single day and sharing experiences and adventures after work and on most weekends. 

The first weekend he was gone, life carried on like normal.  You realize you're busy enough to be wrapped up and to living fully with other people.  But after a while, you realize just how much you've grown accustomed to simply... sharing - to being together and doing stuff together.  And, how you're used to having access to eachother throughout the day and talking about any and everything after work. 

That urge to simply communicate and connect in a quality way for even just a little bit models the way God wants to be in communication with us.  He wants us to freely share the little things and the big things. To share with Him what's on our hearts - our worries and our hopes and dreams and thoughts and deepest feelings. To grow the bond between us by sharing, grieving, laughing, and dreaming together. 

1.  It's way better when it's a two way street

On a couple of occasions when our schedules didn't align or we hadn't talked for a few days, I noticed that I just kinda email spammed Sean over the course of a few hours.  I'll think I'm done communicating a thought or idea, and as soon as I hit send, something else pops into my head.  It feels good to share and express what I'm thinking.  But, there is an expectation that he'll be able to respond by the time I wake up the next day, and it's that hope and expectation that I'll get something back that are the deal makers (even if we have to communicate by email instead of talking).  At that point it becomes a conversation that we're both participating in instead of just a journal entry into cyberspace.  

God interacts with us in both ways - both by responding and sometimes not responding when we share with Him:   

1 - Sometimes we share but don't get anything back.  It's good enough knowing that "Hey, I shared my heart".  It sorta releases something inside of you to move forward and continue soaking up life experiences.  In some cases, that sharing with God actually helps you process thoughts and feelings.  Saying things out loud or writing them out helps you see things you might not have seen before when thoughts were just swirling around in your gray matter up there. 

2 - Sometimes you do hear something back (in a variety of ways), and that's when it gets really fun.  It's like the adventure continues - you're moving forward learning, building bonds, making plans, just being together and having common thoughts.  God can comfort you, breath new life into you and your efforts, can reinforce that you are carrying out the plans He has for you, plus so, so much more. 

2.  The quality of the connection matters

After several days without much communication, Sean texted me a work question right after asking how I was doing.  It definitely stood out to me and felt a bit cold.  Without connecting for a few days, I wanted to get to the heart of the matter.   What experiences he's having, any big realizations or things he's learned, anything funny that happened, or to share or relate something he's seen to an inside joke we have to know he's connecting uniquely with me and not just telling any ole person.  But no, he straight up asked if we had gotten power back at our flip house. 

All too often I think people go to God praying and simply asking for something. ... "God can you help me pass this test, get this job, help me know what decision to make". ...  

God genuinely wants to connect with us, not just get a status update or hear a laundry list of needs or wishes.  Lauren Daigle nails it in her song "First" with the lyrics "Before I bring my need I will bring my heart".

3.  It's better, together 

The first few days Sean was gone, it was nice to have some peace and quite again, and be reintroduced to the me that is an individual interacting with the world.  The person that intentionally reaches out to people more often to hang out, adventure together, or invites them over to my house to live life together for a bit and eat or hang. The person that can solve things for herself, provide completely for herself, and make progress by herself (especially related to work).

The first weekend I had to myself, I mostly worked when I hadn't made other plans to go out. I was making progress and doing just fine, but by Sunday afternoon, a neighbor came over and caught me in the middle of a brainstorming session.  Instead of just munching on a cookie or a taco, I overdosed on sharing way too much detail about what I had been working on and what I was thinking for one of our design schemes. 

After a while, I realized "Hmm, this independence is nice and all, but I don't want to be alone for forever".  That while I was proving to myself again that I can be self sufficient, I started to question - do I want to be like this?  In the quietness at the kitchen table as I worked on visualizing our flip house and in the loneliness of visiting Home Depot to make product selections, I realized it is way more fun to do things with somebody.  I think it's confidence-boosting to prove to yourself that you can do things alone - to remind yourself in that stillness of the quite power within that is what you offer the world.  But, it is way heck of a lot of fun to talk about it with someone, share, and bounce ideas off eachother.  You want to share your life's work with someone!  Way more fun. 

And thinking about who you share that with, wouldn't you want to do that with the person that created you, your story and the plan for your entire life?  To laugh and enjoy life by sharing with God?  He wants that!  He wants to hear what you think and to hear how you are enjoying going through this ride called life.  He wants to hear your progress, the game plan you're thinking, what you're working on, and what's holding you up.  He already knows it, but its way fun getting into those juicy details and working things out together. 

Final Thoughts

It feels good sharing and being fully known. It makes you feel lighter - like you can now go out into the world and fill up on more observations, experiences, and learn new things and make more connections. God can be that internal home that you go to.  Your forever best friend.  Your forever home no matter where you are and always up for those getting-to-the-heart-of-the-matter conversations - as long as we're interested in opening up to Him and engaging Him in the story and adventure.