I read somewhere that zoom calls are the modern equivalent of a séance. We spend a great bit of time saying, “Are you there?” “I can’t hear you” “Can you say something?” Joking aside technology is a great boon to our era. We can connect with anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. Faces of friends who live on other continents loom on our computer screen and we can chat and laugh and it feels like we are in the same room. Technology is a tremendous gift … until it doesn’t work. Until we get error messages. Until we get hacked or spammed or shut down or whatever glitch might infest our medium.
I have not written a posting since March. Blame it on technology. I had a blip on my blogsite that needed attention and I am too much of a luddite to figure it out. I did try. I finally gave in and recruited my niece, she of a younger generation, to bail me out and get me back on track and so here I am – finally.
I have been thinking about the gift of technology (well, after I stopped swearing at my computer when I couldn’t fix my blog by myself). Tonight I am doing a presentation. I have been requested to speak of the personal experience of sponsorship of a refugee family. As I reviewed my photos, and remembered the past seven years, I realized again how we benefitted from, and continue to benefit from, what technology offers in the way of connecting.
From the very beginning of our sponsorship we connected with our family through the electronic transmission of photos. We were able to Skype and talk and get to know one another a bit. Since their arrival in Canada they have been able to communicate with family and friends in other places around the globe by text, FaceTime, What’s App and of course old fashioned email.
There was a day when people left their homeland knowing they would never return and that any connection to the family they left behind would be by letter and that based on the hope that the mail would be safely delivered to its destination within a reasonable time period. It is a ridiculous understatement to say how times have changed. Last week I was travelling in the USA and my cell phone was in my hand constantly. I was constantly texting or phoning or emailing or posting and the messages went out instantaneously from that little rectangle held in the palm of my hand. It has become so routine that we have lots the wonder of what it means to be in touch with anyone anywhere in an instant.
When we stop to think about it – there is something to wonder about all around us. This morning as I drove to the church I noticed a field of wheat. I have driven by that field every day for days but today I noticed that it is a luminous carpet of green. The shoots that broke through the soil have grown enough to cover over the ground and make an uninterrupted, lush covering that shows the mystery of growth. (Jesus put it well, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground…”) The magnolia tree that just weeks ago was covered in gray and barren looking sticks has pushed forth tight buds, that are now a cloud of pink blossoms. Sometimes we just have to stop and think. Stop and look. Stop and wonder. Mystery unfolds all around us and all we are left to do is stand gaping at the gift of it.
Testing … testing … yes, I am here!
Your here and my here are two different heres that now rarely connect and that makes me sad. Oh I understand, one can only connect with one’s immediate circle, and, though it might encircle the globe we can only connect with the working channels we keep open. There aren’t enough hours in the day to personally connect with everyone one knows. So, I must be content to read your blog when you can manage to write. Thank God for small wonders and little gifts.
Because we are here, there and everywhere, I must admit that it’s nice to be able to drop a quick note electronically to let people know you are thinking about them or give an update when you can’t get together as often as you would like. It keeps us all “in the loop” as they say😊