Party lines

 
I remember an oddity of my Great-Grandparents’ and my home from when I was about 5 years old.  Whenever you needed to get on the phone, you had to be cautious that you didn’t interrupt someone else’s conversation.  We had something called a “party line,” which meant that the one line was shared by several households.  Whenever the phone rang, you had to count how many times it rang to know which household it was for.
 
That’s not to say that some folks didn’t take advantage of the situation.  There were some people that would pick up the phone no matter how many times it rang, just so they would know the news of the day in the neighborhood.  You certainly never wanted to share anything deeply personal or scandalous over the phone, because you never knew who all was really listening to you.  You also couldn’t stay on the phone for very long, since this was before call waiting, because some impatient neighbor would be pretty likely to blast a trumpet into your ear if they felt like you’d been on long enough.
 
Mercifully, with God, we have multiple lines of communication.  We can talk directly to Him in prayer and in our thought life.  We have His words communicated to us through the printed word of the Bible.  As believers, we have the constant companion of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, which guides and speaks to our souls.
 
Thankfully, unlike the party line system, we don’t have to wonder when we hear God speaking if it’s really for us.  We are not limited by others on how long or how in-depth we get when we are speaking to Him.  We never have to worry that our private business will become public knowledge when we pour out our hearts to Him.  We don’t have to worry that we are interrupting someone else who might be talking to Him.  There is no question that He is listening when we speak.  The key is to make sure that we are listening when He speaks to us!