Reason #3

Continuing on with the third reason: "My Bubble, My Rules"
According to author Lynne Truss, one of the great principles of manners, especially in Britain, is "respecting someone else's right to be left alone, unmolested, undisturbed." She calls it the concept of distinguishing between public and private space, and, stating the the cell phone is by far, the biggest catalyst in blurring the lines. Anytime, anywhere, we can listen in on one-sided conversations where anything is the topic-business arrangements, lunch menus, criminal activity, and why someone doesn't like one's mother-in-law. The title for Reason #3 came from Bart Simpson, who one time explained his boorish behavior by stating, "Hey, it's my bubble, my rules." When we're out in public, we're in our own little bubble, in our own little world, and in our own little world, our own rules govern our behavior. So what if I am having a disagreement with my spouse over whether to invite his sister to Thanksgiving. You get to be part of that too, whether you want to or not, because I'm having this conversation behind you, at the checkout line in Dillons. The ironic part of this is that if I said anything, you'd tell me to mind my own business. Well I'm SORRY. You made it my business when you encroached upon me with your what should have been private discussion of why you can't stand your sister-in-law. Truss says it used to just be CIA agents who walked around with earpieces and "preoccupied, faraway expressions, regarding the little people as irrelevent scum. Now...it's nearly everybody."

My son works for a major auto parts supplier. He went with us to a funeral home Thursday evening to pay respects to a family who unexpectedly lost a loved one on Tuesday. We were there visiting for 30-45 minutes and during that time, he had his cell phone turned off. After leaving the home and getting back into the car, he turned it on and found that in that length of time, the store had called him 8 times. I was aghast. And grateful he thought to turn it off.

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I've been busy at both schools this week. In this job, a lot of unexpected, unplanned things come up, and you often cannot stick to what you had planned to do when you arrived at work that morning. Then, you get that "I'm behind" feeling, which is a major cause of life stress - I have an outbreak of painful canker sores on my lip which I think, are in part triggered by that stress. It's not just me, my sister-in-law was telling me yesterday that she spent 5 days at her job trying to clear her desk. My husband has a job where the phone rings multiple times in an hour-he used to keep track of the number of phone calls in a day and it was not unusual for him to get 30 or more in an 8 hour day. It's all about dealing with interruptions, isn't it! When I think about interruptions, I think about the gospel of Mark. Read through that book in one or two sittings some time, there are only 16 chapters. Note the number of times Jesus was interrupted, either when He was teaching, walking somewhere, going to church, praying, eating, or speaking with someone. And note His reaction to the interruptions. I had a friend who once told me that interruptions are opportunities for ministry. What do you think?