‘We’re leaving!’
‘Just give me a minute.’
I bounded up the stairs, entered the smallest room and as I was wriggling out of my jeans I heard the dreaded splash. ‘Oh no, my phone!’
I know I shouldn’t have hesitated. I should have just gone straight to the rescue, but there is something about sticking my hand down the toilet that didn’t come naturally.
Perhaps it was those extra seconds in the water, or maybe it was just that phones aren’t meant to swim, but it didn’t come back to life. Sniff, sniff.
‘Hi, I need a new phone’.
‘It’ll be a week’ she said.
That week seemed soooo long! I was lost without my phone, but what was it exactly that I was missing? I thought I was maybe missing the connection. Connection with my friends on text and WhatsApp, with everyone in my community on Facebook and with the world on Twitter. Because that’s how most of us relate these days, through our phones. But maybe it just the feeling that I was ‘missing out’ on something.
Having a phone that pings in our pockets every five minutes can deceive us into thinking that we are connecting with others. We might be connecting superficially, but are we really able to connect on a deep level?
Connection and relationships are the stuff of life. The bible says that ‘it is not good for us to be alone’. From the physically dependant baby, to the teenager starting college, to the workers, busy parents and the pensioner, we are all born with an inbuilt need for connection, with God and with others.
Margaret Paul Ph.D. in the Huffington Post says that ‘Some of the basic needs of childhood are love and emotional connection. When we receive these, we learn to feel worthy and lovable.’ And equally, that the reverse can happen ‘When we are disconnected from ourselves — from who we really are and from our feelings — and when we are not filling ourselves with love through our spiritual connection, we create a black hole within.’
It’s fascinating to explore this topic and to think about what these connections are all about. It’s good to think too about what happens when things go wrong in this area and how can we protect ourselves and help others too.
‘Connected?’ is the theme of Familylife’s Vision and Equipping Conference 2018. So if this is a topic that interests you and you’d like to find out more, or if you have something you’d like to add to the conversation, come along!
Vision and Equipping 2018, 3rd-4th Feb, The Saint James Centre, Oxford Road, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 7DJ.
INFO | SPEAKERS | BOOKING at www.familylifeuk.org/ve2018
Jo Arkell Nov 2017
