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Phone at Prospekt Pobedy 66
Originally uploaded by GrusiaKot

For those of you that are friends with me...and have known me for any length of time...you know that I hate the telephone, but even more than the telephone...I despise listening to messages. AHHHHHH! I will leave them on my phone, unlistened to for days...and then after listening to them, I don't write them down...but really have the best intentions of getting back to those individuals leaving the message...and end up forgetting to return the call.

I'm forced to be better about it at work...since I am a volunteer coordinator...at a homeless shelter...it's kind of essential to my work...but with my personal phone...I'm the worst....what's worse...is that I'm no respecter of persons--I'm slack at calling everyone back (with the exception of my in-laws, parents & brother).

I have to stop a minute and think why that may be. Is it because I know that it's going to be a long conversation, and I can't get to it at the moment? Is it because I dread a conversation? Is it because I'm anti-social (hardly, NO)? I really don't know why I hate the phone or messages...but I'm just awful at motivating myself to be better at it. Nothing personal..just I don't care for the phone, I prefer in person or by internet. I can e-mail you back very quickly...I'm the queen of internet savvy.

So...where does that leave us in our journey of, "Why Candice refuses to get better at phone communication?" Well, I had to dig deep on this one, and honestly, I'm still digging a bit. My guess is that A. I'm just not wired to like the phone. B. Maybe there's some psycho-analytical reasoning for it. C. I'm weird. D. All of the above.

So if I loved my friends and family that called...don't you think I would want to use BOTH of the two forms of communication (internet & phone) with them on a regular basis, especially since I don't live in the same town with any of them? I may use one and not the other...but the both combined, well, it can be so much more effective....

Same with my relationship with the Lord...But I do know one thing, there are definite times in my life when I'm just bored praying or reading the Bible. Do I love the Lord? Absolutely. Do I long to serve him? More than anything. Then why don't I communicate better with him on a more regular basis? Why don't I always use ALL the forms of communication with Him? All of those ways combined can be so much more effective, even if I'm not wired to do all forms...

So what does it come down to? I think it takes obedience & perserverance. John 14:21 (The Message) shows the importance of obedience to the Lord,

"The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that's who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him."

I can also see the importance of perserverance in Hebrews 12: 1-3 (The Message),

"Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!"

Now you're probably wondering, "What does that have to do with Candice being better with the phone?" I guess the spiritual parallel that I gather from it is...perserverance pays off.