Gas Station Conversation
After pulling into the gas station, I was made my way down the treat isle. I noticed three teens. Tennies danced this way and that as the one with the keys jingled them handily while making an offer to her friends.
“Go ahead and grab anything. We’ll just put it on the tab so it’ll look like we bought gas!”
Grandma here just had to speak up. “Woe! Ethics!” I managed to make eye contact with the young lady and she flippantly expounded on her rationale. “Oh, my dad won’t mind. It’s his business card!”
I was speechless. They gathered the goods and off they went.
The cashier at the counter looked to be about the same age and I couldn’t help but ask. “So, what do you think about what just happened?”
“I have to pay for all my own stuff. That’s why I’m working. I’ve had other commitments at school and so haven’t had time to work. It costs me a ton to fill up my pick-up and I haven’t been able to go anywhere because I can’t afford it. This summer I’m going to work construction in order to pay for college next year.” On he went about what field he plans to study and where he is going to study it. His excitement was contagious.
There are no shortcuts in life and what I heard made me wonder. I wondered when the “business card” turns into a company card where purchases are audited. I wondered when the small charges turns into a major cover-up where there will be charges. I wondered when something that appears to be no big deal really is a big deal and there are consequences to follow. I wondered what will happen when mom or dad are no longer there to bail them out or make them look good in front of friends.
Suggesting we are perfect or that we need be is not the goal here…nor is it to say we all can’t improve in certain areas. Rather, the goal might be to remind us all of the subtle messages we send to those whom we love most. Is it helping them? Or is what we enable hurting them?
Worthy of note is Exodus 20:2-17. It offers reflective protection.
After having witnessed this, I took a look within. Transformation is not a once and done deal, but a process where temptation raises its head now and again within us all. It’s ongoing this side of the veil and taking the log out of my own eye is where I need to start. This will lead to compassion when trying to help my brother or sister remove the spec in their own.
I love what Luke tells us in chapter 2:19. He says that once Mary heard the words from the angel, she “pondered them in her heart.” Perhaps we need to ponder within His commandments and when we do we will begin to recognize His still small voice. It will sound like Isaiah 30:21 “This is the way, walk in it.” As we walk beside others who are in various developmental stages of hearing and heeding His voice, may we be astute to living it ourselves one step at a time...one day at time. Amen.
Telephone Chit-Chat
The world at large has big stuff going on, so forgive me ahead of time if this all seems a bit trite.
I paid my phone bill yesterday. Let me clarify. I paid my land-line phone bill yesterday. It was $86. Knowing we no longer receive many calls on it, I posed the question to my husband as to whether or not we should finally take the plunge and disconnect. It would save us about 30 bucks each month to let it go.
Quickly I gave a call to the phone company and soon the receptionist gave me several options.
“Let’s see if we can cut costs for you in some other area,” she suggested. “Oh, I see here that you’ve been renting the phone from us since 2002. You pay $2 a month and if you cut that out, it will save you a little. You can buy it outright from us for $5.00.”
Something shifted within as I ran to my trusty calculator. Clearly it was the thirty bucks I wanted to save each month, not just two. I penciled it out and had already spent $420 in rental fees so now having to buy the phone outright sort a rubbed me the wrong way. Yet, I knew it went deeper.
After conversing with the more than patient receptionist, I was reminded that we probably would never be able to get that same number back. And it didn’t take a genius to see that if we canceled it, others in the family could no longer call home. Oh, they could call on my cell phone but often I’m at the super market, or out walking, or visiting others…I’m not at home.
I soon realized that letting go of that number, that phone, that way of calling would be an end to an era for us all. Transitioning into the decision making process was easy when looking at saving money, but quite complex when it came to the memories attached.
Forty years holds many a memory. First visual that came to mind was mom and I dangling on the line talking long distance almost daily as I used to calculate the cost of ten cents per minute. She was worth every penny. Then there were the times the phone would ring and one would be on the other end. I knew immediately what that was all about. It was our secret kid code signaling one or more had arrived back at school from a ballgame and they now needed a ride. They had dialed from the pay phone at school and when I picked up, they quickly hung up. It was my signal to head on in.
I miss those days. I just do. Perhaps more than the giving up the land-line is the passing of time which is all wrapped up in that number, that line, and in that way to call home. Perhaps I’m just scared that if I get rid of it, nobody will ever be able to call “home” if they need to. And one day, someone might need to.
Tonight we will process the situation once again. My husband will say, “Didn’t we already go over this?”
And I will say, “Yes, but I think we need to process it a little more. Maybe we need to call the kids on it one last time.”
And he will say, “Okay…let’s do that.” And we will. If we decide to cancel, I will call the phone company and have them disconnect our land-line. Then, when the kids come home and it doesn’t ring, they won’t be able to say, “Oh yeah! You still have one of THOSE!”
Ecclesiastes 3:1 scripts it well. “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Perhaps it’s time. Perhaps. Amen.
