Can you love someone you’ve never talked with? Sure! I loved each of my children before they were born. But let’s face it – that’s a special circumstance.
When you love someone, you naturally want to talk with them. Right? While dating, you spend your time together talking about everything and nothing. Hours disappear into the mist of conversations that fill your hearts and tell you the secrets of each other’s soul.
Then the relationship ages. You get comfortable with each other, and pretty soon you don’t crave endless hours of conversation the way you once did. Sometimes days pass without a meaningful conversation. How did it happen? When did sharing everything with each other come to an end?
Before you realize it, the two of you know so little about each other that starting a conversation is alien and uncomfortable. You have no idea what to say.
Sure, you remember his favorite flavor of ice cream, and he hasn’t forgotten your favorite burger topping.
The deep, meaningful, real conversations, though – the ones that pull you closer together? Without them, you find yourselves drifting further apart.
Can you still love the person you never talk to? Maybe, but it won’t be the rich fulfilling love that makes you a better person and drives you to make them feel special. Instead, it’ll be a shell of the real thing, a mere obligation.
So, if conversation is so vital to our relationships with each other, how much more important is it with our Heavenly Father?
If we never talk to God…what then?
He’s still going to know our heart. After all, He’s God! The question is, can we know His heart if we neither speak nor listen to Him? Can we skip talking to Him about all the important things in our lives – and still claim we have a tightly woven bond? Is it possible to understand His heart when we no longer take the time to listen to what He has to say to us?
You might still love Him, but again, it’ll be a shadow of what a relationship with Him could be, and you’ll be missing out on the depth and breadth of real joy that comes from having a close and personal friendship with God.
Conversation matters to relationships – with God, Great Aunt Winifred, and your significant other. In the midst of all the craziness around us, taking time out to talk to each other is how we keep our hearts close to one another.
Have a great week, and remember to have a meaningful conversation along the way.
ab
WARNING: When you care about what a man says and listen to his every word while gazing attentively into his eyes, he may just find you breathlessly sexy.
Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.
Great post Heather! You make a very good point! :)
That’s such a great point Heather! When my hubs and I were working full time and in school full time we rarely had a chance to talk much. Not really. I remember talking to my mother-in-law one day and:
Me: Guess who I got to talk to last night?!?!?!?!
MIL /confused at my excitement/: Who?
Me: MATT!!!!!! FOR LIKE THREE HOURS!!!!
:D
With four jobs between us (his main job, both of us adjunct instructors at a community college, and my writing and all that entails (blogs, pres of local chapter, etc)) and four kids, there are still times I feel that way when we have a chance to talk for any extended period of time. I do my best to pay attention and ask him about his day and such – and I really truly am interested – but he’s often talked out between work (he’s a group therapist) and teaching and, if I’m honest, I often just don’t follow what he’s talking about because it’s not something I know enough about. But I try ;).
I agree on both counts:
1. with spouse / family / friends — we have to invest time and attention (which certainly includes conversation) in order to nurture those relationships and keep them healthy
2. our Heavenly Father desires that same kind of fellowship with us and He keeps his channel open 24/7
Thank you for visiting today Lisa!
LOL!! Three hours of conversation – now that’s a prize!!
I’ll be honest. Sometimes when my husband talks about work, my eyes glaze over after about five minutes. He has a very technological job, and I don’t even know 90% of the terms he uses. He loves me enough to understand, though, and as a boon, I don’t hold it against him when I talk marketing or writing, and he looks like a deer caught in the headlights. ;)
Thankfully we have a lot more to talk about than just our jobs! :)
I think sometimes, Jeff, that we’ve become such a technological society that we spend a lot of time communicating with each other but not actually speaking to one another — or investing that time and attention you mentioned. Spending time actually speaking with someone — not at them, not to them, but with them…it’s vital to our relationships. I wonder sometimes, too, if the world of texts and tweets and sound bites has affected the way we talk to God.
Sounds a lot like my husband and I. Thanks for a lovely post and reminder to talk to God more!
Hi Heather, great post! It’s interesting how our life circumstances can impact our conversation time with our spouse. And, the same goes for our prayer lives unless we make it a priority. Thanks for sharing :)
Heather, what a wonderful post. Communication is the key to any human relationship, so why should our relationship with God be any different? Really enjoyed reading this one.
Blessings,
Andrea
Wonderful post, Heather. Lots to think about. I remember those wonderful days when Hubster and I would spend hours and hours talking. After the kids (and now grandkids) were born it was often more a sentence or two tossed in passing. Relationships take thought–and work–both with God and our loved ones.