2013-01-01

Phones Hold Our Numbers and Our Insecurities

You ever catch yourself looking at your phone way too many times? I do. I am constantly looking at my phone seeing if anyone has texted or called. I only have a flip phone so that’s all I really can do. Other people I know will whip out their phone to look through Facebook or go on some website. In recognizing my habitual phone checking I realized I was using my phone to feel secure, like the feeling I would normally have if I had no phone but only nails to bite. Humans are naturally insecure and we use things to help us cope with environments or situations that we are unsure about. So it’s okay to constantly look at my phone then? It’s just a coping mechanism, right?

Looking at the phone is a coping mechanism. But what else do we do to help us cope and not deal with the actual issue? Drink alcohol. Probably. Eat unhealthy food. Certainly. Text. Definitely. In American culture we uplift the individual for his/her achievements but in the process we have created individuals that are extremely insecure. Far beyond what is normal and way past how we used to be several generations ago. It’s kind of a vicious cycle. All the things that we do now perpetuates our own insecurities. I may not have very many people I can trust or turn to in a time of need but that is not the main issue when it comes to actually dealing with my insecurities. The only way to overcome my insecurities is to do the opposite of looking at my phone, sending a text, or drinking alcohol: be vulnerable in the moment.

You can’t just be vulnerable in the moment, someone may take advantage of you? That is very true and I agree with that statement. I too have been taken advantage of in the most difficult of times. So your wondering why then would I continue to make myself vulnerable if there is even the slightest possibility that I could be taken advantage of? One word: faith. That’s a bunch of malarkey you say. I too thought it was malarkey. I grew up in the church, Southern Baptist, and heard faith being talked about every Sunday. I was too young and inexperienced to know what it was though. Only having gone through difficult times does one realize what it truly means. I would go so far as to question whether the Pastor who was preaching to me actually knew what it meant. Faith is not something you learn, it’s something you experience day in and day out, whether you notice it or not.

To truly accept faith and trust it you have to be founded in two basic premises. First: Nothing is a coincidence. Everything happens and paths cross for a reason. Whenever you are somewhere and you feel uncomfortable, you have to realize that you were put there for a reason. Embrace the moment and seize it. Secondly, the hunch you feel in your stomach is always right, even when you think it’s wrong. How can it be right if it’s wrong? That does not make any sense. I’ll tell a story. One day I was at a stoplight and I was looking down at my phone and playing with the radio. As soon as I turned my head up the light was green and I thought in my mind that I need to hurry up because the guy behind me is gonna start honking his horn. Right as I made that comment to myself I saw a minivan go through the intersection and through the red light. I knew that if I had been prepared to drive immediately when the light turned green it was probably likely that I would have been hit. I was wrong, but my faith was right. What brought me to that point is faith and it is what took me from that point forward.

I can list more experiences but it’s not a matter of how many experiences I have that prove my faith. Faith cannot be proved. It involves acting blindly from what the Creator tells you. Trusting in that faith and the message he gives you even when it goes against what you think or believe. I have been proven wrong time and time again, only to realize that Creator knows and He is someone I can trust. What does this have to do with insecurities? We are looking down at our phones when we should be looking up. In the heavens is where my insecurities lie. Where are yours?