How did we get so connected?
Do you own any type of electrical communication device? When you were a child did you ever think you would carry a telephone in your pocket? How did we get this far in the evolution of communication?
Let’s go back a few hundred years and find out. On January 6, 1838 Samuel Morris demonstrated his telegraph for the very first time at the Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown New Jersey. A telegraph is a device which uses electrical impulses to transmit coded messages over a wire.
Samuel Morris was born in 1791 in Charleston Massachusetts. He attended Yale University where he was interested in art as well as electricity which was in its infancy at that time. After college Morris became a painter. While sailing home from Europe in 1832 he heard about a new electromagnet which sparked the idea of the electric telegraph. He spent the next several years developing a prototype with two partners, Leonard Gale and Alfred Vail. He demonstrated his invention “by using what he called ‘the Morris code’ which is a series of dashes and dots that represent letters and numbers. In 1843 Morris finally convinced the Congress to fund construction of the first telegraph line in the United States from Washington DC to Baltimore. In May 1844 Morris sent the first official telegram over the line, with the message: “What God hath wrought!”
To understand this message completely we need to know the definition of the word ‘wrought.’ According to Miriam Webster the definition of wrought is: worked into shape by artistry, elaborately embellished.
Do you find it ironic that the first message ever sent gave God the glory for the invention? I also find it ironic that the more and more sophisticated the electronic communications become, the less and less we talk to God.
How much time in one day you spend on some type of electronic device, (that includes your TV)? Now compare that to amount of time you have in one-on-one communication with God.
Communication with God is free, and can be done anytime and anyplace, while driving it is a hands-free communication, lying in your bed, taking a shower, walking down a beautiful path along the river. Talking to God can also be done on your knees, or in a prayer closet, where ever and whenever you decide to do it, he will always hear. It is an absolutely static free full service communication device. So what is stopping you? You know me, any time I can interject a song that embellishes the point I am trying to make I do so. Here is one of my favorites.
Just A Little Talk With Jesus
The Statler Brothers
I once was lost in sin but Jesus took me in
And then a little light from Heaven filled my soul
He bathed my heart in love and wrote my name above
And just a little talk with Jesus made me whole
Now let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our troubles
He will hear our faintest cry and we will answer by and by
Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turning
You’ll know a little fire is burning
You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right
I may have doubts and fears my eyes be filled with tears
But Jesus is a friend who watches day and night
Oh, I go to Him in prayer, He knows my every care
And just a little talk with Jesus makes it right
Chorus
I constantly get messages on my cell phone to pray for a child with cancer, to pray for service people, and to pray for our nation. I often wonder how many people that are sending me these messages actually take the time to stop and to pray for any of those mentioned above. It only takes a moment to have a personal relationship with God.
As parents it is important that we monitor any electronic device our children use to keep them safe from a world that can oftentimes be very dark and ugly. Oftentimes their only example of communication with God comes from us. How are we doing on that front? Do you bow your head and thank God for the roof over your head, the food you eat, or the free country in which you live?
We as writers would have no trouble interjecting simple referrals to God, prayer, and praise in our writings. It is one way we can teach not only communication through the written word, but one on a much higher level. Let’s do our part in this upcoming year 2021.
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Luke 11:9
Therefore I say unto you. What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have them. Mark 11:24
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13