I'm just not that important!

Two nights ago, as I was getting ready to get in bed, I realized that I had left my phone downstairs. I was faced with a choice. Either I could run down and get it and return it to its night-time location, on the nightstand next to my bed in case there is ever an emergency, plugged in so that it charges for the next day. Or I could just leave it and get it on my way out the next morning. Deep inside of me, I had this fear. This would be the one night that I didn’t have it and someone would call, needing me in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t be there to hear it ring. I bring this up, as sort of a confession and cleansing, as well as a plea to others. I think I am way more important than I really am, as if the world hinges on my availability and my ability to pick up the phone at a moment’s notice. I am not that important. Things are not that important.

I say this, because this brings up a larger issue. I am tired of hearing phones ring in meetings, gathering and especially in worship services. Now, let me preface this next statement by saying, we all make mistakes and forget to turn our phones off. I’ve done it, once or twice. Everyone has done it a time or two. I can forgive that. But what gets my goat is the fact that people constantly come into meetings, gatherings, even worship services and do not turn their phones off or put them on silence/vibrate. And if that is not enough, when the phone rings, they fail to immediately silence it. Normally what happens is the phone rings, they don’t realize it is their phone. Then when the shock wears off, they pull it out and look at it, trying to figure out who is calling. Then they answer it, while running out of the room, trying not to be rude. Oops. The damage has already been done. Why run out? You’ve already distracted everyone around. Listen, in all seriousness, if we as people are intelligent enough to own a phone, we better know how to operate it, meaning turn the ringer off immediately when it rings, or better yet, put it on silence or vibrate to begin with. If one does not know how to do that, then maybe one would be better served not owning a phone at all. Besides, are things ever really that important? I say this, and for the next five weeks I will be a slave to my phone, especially when my wife calls, for obvious reasons. But that is different. The day to day routine of life is never really as important as we think it is. When we go to meet with people, let’s do something revolutionary and actually meet with them, in a real, relational sort of way. Let’s put the noise of the rest of our lives aside and be fully present with them, giving them our undivided attention. Let’s make them as important as God intended them to be. Remember that whole, “Love God and your neighbor” thing? It has to start somewhere, right?

By the way, two nights ago, I ran downstairs and got my phone. Like I said, this is more of a confession than anything else. Maybe next time, I’ll just go to bed, realizing that the world will continue to turn, no matter where my phone is located. I’m just not that important.