Communicating in our Social Media environment

In years past as the owner of a business I made it a practice to make sure personal communications happened. It might be a personal thank you to someone or to write to someone about something of interest to both of us that would maintain friendships. It might be to ask a favor. It might be to make an introduction to two of my friends and contacts. Usually that results in a win-win situation. It makes a day a rewarding day. And there was always a business opportunity to be explored.

One way to make this happen was to set a goal, a discipline to writing and sending five letters a week, one per work week day. Those five letters were beyond the ongoing business that needed constant attention. This came to mind the first few days of September as I considered writing this BLOG. Cleaning my email Inbox and Sent messages files is vital to work clean. 

I try to keep the Box as current as possible. It serves as my TO DO LIST almost. If it is in the Inbox it keeps my attention. With the volume of my communications it is almost impossible to keep it current. 
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I recall a time in our early married life I worked one Christmas time at the local post office sorting mail. It was during my break from college at the main office in San Luis Obispo, California. My assignment was to sort piles and piles of incoming mail to the surrounding cities. Piles and piles of mail were placed below my feet under the slots for the cities. I would grab a bunch and place them in the alphabetically organized slots. It was almost impossible to get all of the stack below me clean. New batches arrived constantly.

You have seen something like this graphic on your email system. This is one of my accounts that uses the iCloud and has Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Junk, Trash and Archive where files are listed.

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Since January 1st this year I have sent more than 1,300 messages in the accounts that go to this inbox. These are in addition to our ministry account. It is in addition to Constant Contact mailings and other automated messages.

​Social Media is the title of this months BLOG and our email communications are more and more important in our daily lives. Seeking wisdom will guide us through the myriad of communications before us.

Here is a passage from the Bible to guide us. "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."  James 1:5 NASB

If you are struggling with a message that needs to be sent, ask God for wisdom. The verse above is a promise. 

Just moments ago I asked a friend about a health issue she is dealing with. Her immediate response what to ask me to pray. She knew my relationship with God was much better than hers. She said so. It reflects my local testimony of my faith in the God we serve and more importantly reflects her knowing she needs prayer.

​Let your friends know you pray. It opens doors like it did today for me. I will pray for her and it gives me a chance to followup and ask her, not just if my prayer worked but if she enjoyed comfort knowing a friend was praying for her.