Communicating
By Janet Baillie
Recently Russell bought a new mobile phone, and I inherited his old one, something we have done before without too much trouble. He knows this is the only way I will upgrade my phone; left to my own devices I would leave it till my phone no longer worked.
This time it wasn’t straight forward, and we got locked out. No problem, all we needed was a PUK code. Of course, I couldn’t find any record of the said code, so we travelled into the store in Sudbury. They asked various questions, most of which I couldn’t answer but eventually found the PUK code and unlocked the phone, only for us to get locked out again a couple of days later.
Back to Sudbury. I was helped by a different girl. And once again I had to answer various questions. Answers which had been correct last time were now wrong. Finally, I got a new SIM card, the phone seems to work, and I have made a note of the PUK code!
I don’t use my mobile phone very often, the odd call, a few texts, a costa app – only downloaded because it was the only way I could access the points on my costa card, and trying to be a good citizen the NHS app. Since the phone spends a lot of its time switched off in the study I’ve never been pinged!
I do sometimes use Royal Mail, mainly to send various greeting cards. In order to save money when I learn that the cost of stamps is about to increase, I buy books of them at the original price. Seemingly this practise is likely to cause me a problem. By next year all stamps will have to have a bar code to be legal. Any that haven’t, can be exchanged by getting a form from somewhere, filling it in and sending it to somewhere with my surplus stamps. As long as they don’t get lost in the post I should be reimbursed. I’m sure I read this and didn’t dream it (but if it was later in the year, I would think it was an April fool), the said bar code will contain a video that the recipient will be able to play. Presumably on a mobile phone. Really?
How relieved I am that communicating with our Heavenly Father is so much easier, no password or pin number, no fancy stamps with a barcode. Just a quiet place and simple language. Jesus tells us how to do it in Mathew 6:6-8: ‘But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.’ He even gives us a pattern to use in the Lord’s Prayer:
‘This, then, is how you should pray:
‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.’
(Matthew 6:9-15)
(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)