Saturday, September 18, 2010
Is God into Texting?
What if God was into texting? I mean, can you imagine how practical that would be? "God, need more money please." "God, please help w/ pkng space." "God, cool sky today, ttyl."
I send out thousands of texts per month, if you can believe it. But, if you're an avid texter, then "u r not surprised." As I was just texting my twin sister to discuss our evening plans, I pondered to myself, "What if I could just text God a message?"
Sometimes, we love to text because we feel like it's so quick and easy. It's not that I don't love to talk to my family and friends, but I absolutely love the convenience of texting over phone calls for certain things. Like, "What time are you coming over?" Or something like, "Oops, did I leave my sunglasses at your house?"
In fact, I feel more connected at times with my texting community of friends because I'm able to share a new blog post or a picture of my kids via texting throughout the day. This type of communication actually feels incredibly personal because my texting network is so accessible. Plus, I feel like we keep each other posted about the smaller details of life.
I love how I can shoot off a quick message to ten people within five seconds all while walking to the front door with my three kids and my red coffee mug in hand. Instantly, my husband can see exactly what they look like with ice cream on their faces after school from Baskin Robbins. :)
It's great how my friends and I can have an entire conversation in a matter of minutes about whatever...via text and how it makes me feel like they actually care that I just realized my youngest daughter was wearing her brother's underwear. Or, I can find out that my friend is stopping by later to drop off some homemade enchiladas.
It's so neat that I can get a picture of my IL college room-mate and her family from their vacation to the Sequoias within seconds. In a way, it's like I'm there with them experiencing the great outdoors; I can almost smell the fresh pine needles. And then, I can leave the pic on my phone to glance at whenever I think of this friend, or I can use it as my phone's wallpaper for a few days. :)
Some people loathe texting because it seems so impersonal. I totally understand that perspective too. There are moments when a text will not suffice. At times, it does become necessary or just more enjoyable to actually dial the phone for a real life conversation. And sometimes, even a phone call won't do, and you just need to hook up for a coffee date to chat in person. But, you can text about the who, what, when, where, and why. :)
If you are an anti-texter, you shouldn't write off texting as superficial though. For example, texting someone to tell them that they want to end their friendship with you seems shallow and cruel. However, texting a quick picture of a pretty sunset or a reminder note seems incredibly appropriate.
If you open yourself up to it, you might see that texting is actually a valuable form of communication. In fact, when I ask myself about God's view on texting, I think He'd say that it's totally acceptable if kept in balance like most things in life.
For example, one glass of wine is good and even healthy; four glasses is totally overboard. It's the same thing with texting. And I definitely have to keep myself in check on that. It's tempting to pull out my phone and start texting at the park instead of pushing my daughter on the swing. So, obviously I have to limit my screen time so I can spend quality time with my family as my first priority.
God might make a few criticisms about texting, such as "Don't text and drive" or "You should text ME more often." But, I think all in all, He'd definitely approve. It's even cool how Christian radio stations will text you their "verse of the day." How could God disapprove of that?
Hold on, I just got two new texts. So, I'm gonna go and check those out. In the interim though, share some of your thoughts on texting. What do you think? Does the "Big Guy in the sky" approve? We'd love to hear from you. :)
I send out thousands of texts per month, if you can believe it. But, if you're an avid texter, then "u r not surprised." As I was just texting my twin sister to discuss our evening plans, I pondered to myself, "What if I could just text God a message?"
Sometimes, we love to text because we feel like it's so quick and easy. It's not that I don't love to talk to my family and friends, but I absolutely love the convenience of texting over phone calls for certain things. Like, "What time are you coming over?" Or something like, "Oops, did I leave my sunglasses at your house?"
In fact, I feel more connected at times with my texting community of friends because I'm able to share a new blog post or a picture of my kids via texting throughout the day. This type of communication actually feels incredibly personal because my texting network is so accessible. Plus, I feel like we keep each other posted about the smaller details of life.
I love how I can shoot off a quick message to ten people within five seconds all while walking to the front door with my three kids and my red coffee mug in hand. Instantly, my husband can see exactly what they look like with ice cream on their faces after school from Baskin Robbins. :)
It's great how my friends and I can have an entire conversation in a matter of minutes about whatever...via text and how it makes me feel like they actually care that I just realized my youngest daughter was wearing her brother's underwear. Or, I can find out that my friend is stopping by later to drop off some homemade enchiladas.
It's so neat that I can get a picture of my IL college room-mate and her family from their vacation to the Sequoias within seconds. In a way, it's like I'm there with them experiencing the great outdoors; I can almost smell the fresh pine needles. And then, I can leave the pic on my phone to glance at whenever I think of this friend, or I can use it as my phone's wallpaper for a few days. :)
Some people loathe texting because it seems so impersonal. I totally understand that perspective too. There are moments when a text will not suffice. At times, it does become necessary or just more enjoyable to actually dial the phone for a real life conversation. And sometimes, even a phone call won't do, and you just need to hook up for a coffee date to chat in person. But, you can text about the who, what, when, where, and why. :)
If you are an anti-texter, you shouldn't write off texting as superficial though. For example, texting someone to tell them that they want to end their friendship with you seems shallow and cruel. However, texting a quick picture of a pretty sunset or a reminder note seems incredibly appropriate.
If you open yourself up to it, you might see that texting is actually a valuable form of communication. In fact, when I ask myself about God's view on texting, I think He'd say that it's totally acceptable if kept in balance like most things in life.
For example, one glass of wine is good and even healthy; four glasses is totally overboard. It's the same thing with texting. And I definitely have to keep myself in check on that. It's tempting to pull out my phone and start texting at the park instead of pushing my daughter on the swing. So, obviously I have to limit my screen time so I can spend quality time with my family as my first priority.
God might make a few criticisms about texting, such as "Don't text and drive" or "You should text ME more often." But, I think all in all, He'd definitely approve. It's even cool how Christian radio stations will text you their "verse of the day." How could God disapprove of that?
Hold on, I just got two new texts. So, I'm gonna go and check those out. In the interim though, share some of your thoughts on texting. What do you think? Does the "Big Guy in the sky" approve? We'd love to hear from you. :)
