Connections

A few months ago, my 94 year old father got a new smartphone.  Since then, calls to him usually go to voicemail, texts go unread, and he frequently tells me that the phone is broken and "won't answer".  Two trips to T-mobile confirmed operator error, as I suspected.  To help, I activated google voice on his phone and pasted a sign on his kitchen cabinets with "Hey Google" steps so he could use his voice instead of his old, arthritic fingers.  These instructions go unheeded, as you might imagine, and our ongoing phone lessons feel a little like Groundhog Day. 

Something funny has come out of this, though, that started soon after he got the phone.  To my question about what he had done on a particular day, he would say, "Oh, I had a nice conversation with Jim Billings this afternoon" or "I talked to Trish Scott today"--people who were former co-workers or neighbors he hadn't seen in years.  These became frequent enough that I finally asked what was motiving all this rekindling of old relationships.  He confessed that they were all mistakes he made by pushing the wrong buttons, and we both cracked up.  Now he doesn't need to tell me the reason for some random, blast-from-the-past conversation he has had.  We just laugh.  But now he is talking to some of these folks often, and old relationships are becoming dear again.

Maybe the smartphone really is smart after all. It's inspired me to make a couple of calls myself.  You never know when someone will be glad to hear your voice.

Thank you, Holy One, for inventions. Help us to use them for good, for light and for love.

Judy is a member of Peace Church who is grateful for her dad, her family and old and new friends.