We’ve been having trouble with our phone. Last night it called us four times throughout the night (like 1 am, 3 am, etc). This isn’t a cell phone but the old fashioned “house phone” on the wall. It needs a new line which can’t go in until the Spring the phone company says. The phone has called 911 itself now three times! The police come, in case you are wondering, even if no one is at the other end of the line. They think it is a “hang-up” and a police car pulls into your drive to check on you. I am so thankful for our police people and VERY embarrassed that this has happened a total of THREE times, two in the last month. It isn’t us though. That can be hard enough to explain. The phone is literally calling 911 on its own.

It started me thinking about my parents’ home phone (which by the way does NOT call 911 and hang up) and their phone number. They have had the same phone for over 40 YEARS. 40 years. 4-0 Y.E.A.R.S  I suspect that my high school friends could still recall the number. It has never changed in all this time. We spent hours talking about things that had just happened at school –and boys, especially boys–under the guise of getting math help from one another. Literally hours of my life were spent sitting beside the phone, talking to friends. The number was always the same. Still today, I call that number and hear my parents at the other end of the line. The same number for 40+ years.

How often do we change for just the sake of change? How often do we stick to something because we gave our word? Life is in the fast lane and we discard so much these days.  The clothing styles change. We change our cars, our phones, our computers, our shoe styles, our jobs, our houses, our spouses even, sometimes.

Life is about change and sometimes that is needed. Sometimes it’s a good thing. There is growth and rebirth. There is surviving and recreating. But, sometimes it is just wasteful. It’s gluttonous. It’s selfish.  Change just to change isn’t good. We discard relationships like we throw away a food wrapper. When those relationships fade, we blame the other person BECAUSE it IS her/his fault. And many times it is the fault of the other. Mostly. Surely it is. I tried…for a bit.

I’ve been thinking about a couple from Texas who are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary. Both were over 100 years old and had been married 75 years! That is commitment. That is longevity. That is a relationship of duration. Time, length, emotion, duration.

I have a group of girlfriends and we text one another. We have seen loss together but also wonderful events. Each month, one friends asks how she can pray for the rest of us. We have been in one another’s weddings, visited at the loss of parents, seen the births of children, encouraged through job changes and life changes. That is a relationship of duration. Time, emotion, years of commitment. For nearly 30 years these women have been in my life, cheering me and one another on.

My word for this new year of 2020 is relationship. I want to build relationships with others for the long haul: continued relationships as well as new ones that are deep and enduring. I want to reach out to those who have committed to me and my family years ago and continue to support and love us from near and far. I want to work on family relationships, friendships, relationships with my boys.

My boys: in two years one will be graduating from high school and change will occur. He will move away from our unit and build his own. Shortly after that two more will year after year separate from the unit. Change is coming but relationship is what will bring them back to our home for celebration and longevity. Enduring relationships that bind us together and make us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves.

I know there is a “God-sized” hole in the middle of all of us that can only be filled with Him and His word. This might be why we all long for the eternal, the enduring, that which never goes away or ends. I know that His word is true and eternal. In Psalm 119:160 it says, “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.” Isaiah 40:8 tells us, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” (KJB) Praise the Lord there is something that never changes. 🙂

With throw-away EVERYTHING anymore, I am looking for that which does not go away, relationships worth holding on to and building up year after year.

2020, what is your focus?