The joy of hearing the voice of someone we love

Playl's Ponderings

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“It’s so good to hear your voice!”

Most of us have said those words at some time - perhaps many times - in our life...and how many times have we heard those exact same words?

It is always good to hear from someone we love, whether it is in person, by phone, text, email, snail mail, card, or telegram. Just kidding, I never sent or received a telegram. But the truth is I would rather hear the voice of a loved one than to see their greeting in print.

Whether it’s on paper or a screen, a written or printed message from someone who is important to us is always great to receive. When I went away to college, I checked my mailbox in the lobby of the dorm every day - sometimes several times daily - to see if I had a letter or card from home. If there was a check enclosed it was especially exciting. But if a dorm mate knocked on the door of my room to inform me of a call on the payphone on our floor, I was ecstatic, especially if the call came from a parent or my grandmother.

Are you old enough to remember pay phones with a rotary dial? Occasionally, I would save up my coins and call them. More often, though, I would call them “collect” and have the charges reversed. They were happy to pay for the call, and usually they said those words, “...so good to hear your voice.”

Fast forward to the 21st century. With modern technology, it’s easy for our kids and grandkids to call us every day from a cell phone and let us hear their voice. Still, sometimes, we may not hear from one or more of them for a few days. Or we’ll just get a brief text. Granted, the text may be more appropriate - on occasion - but if we fail to talk for several days - audio communication - we long to hear their voice.

Sometimes we’ll play a recorded video on our phones to hear and see them. Or we’ll touch the picture frame with Katie Grace’s picture and listen to her say, “I love you Nahnee and Papa.” Do you every do things like that?

Anyway, I got to thinking how God must long to hear the voices of His children when we go for days on end without communicating with Him. And it is so simple, so easy to talk to Him in prayer. Although we rarely have the privilege of hearing Him speak in an audible voice, He does speak to us through the Bible, through circumstances in our lives, through the voice of other people, through nature, and sometimes through a still small, but silent, voice in our heart. We have to listen. Pay attention. Focus on the Creator.

And we can talk to Him any time. We don’t have to wait for someone to get off the phone so we can have our turn. There is never a busy signal. Our calls do not even require a cell phone. All we have to do is open our hearts, and perhaps our mouths, and start talking. He hears us.

When talking to family, friends or enemies, there are times when we should be careful what we say and sometimes say nothing at all. With God we may as well say it, because He knows what we are thinking even before we say it. We can confess, request, or praise with the knowledge that He knows our hearts.

Jesus taught us that often we should find a quiet place, such as a closet or secluded place on the mountain or in the valley and pour out our hearts to God. He also told us, if we are His children, we should address Him as “our Father in heaven.”

Sometimes I fail to pray to the Heavenly Father as faithfully as I should. When I miss talking to Him for a while and I finally begin to pour my heart out to Him, I can hear that still small voice in my heart saying, “It’s so good to hear your voice, son.”

Have you talked to your Father today?

--Steve Playl can be reached by email at playlsr@yahoo.com

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