Lenten Blog - Day 4 - Relationships - Part 1

 

It all comes down to relationships.

Often times I hear that Lent is a season to strengthen your relationship with God. But how do you have a relationship with the “other?”

I’ve had many relationships over the years. Some good, some bad. Some started out swell and then, over times, dissipated into nothing (only to resurface later on Facebook). Others were doomed from the start. Others are still stronger than ever even though we don’t see or hear from each other - the bond was there at the beginning and it’s STILL there - even if we’ve not seen each other face-to-face in years.

When I started in Law in 1983, pretty much every law firm I worked at used Iron Mountain for our off-site storage. Shipping stuff off-site, getting stuff delivered. It was a simple process of calling Barbara or Dhebi or Jackie and then Alexi or Aaron would bring our boxes. They knew who we were. They knew where we wanted the boxes delivered. We chatted about families and futures and lives and loves and I became good friends with one of them (one of those relationships that has faded into the past).

Over the years we truly got to know each other. Then, when I was working at Heller Ehrman, Iron Mountain changed their processes. No longer were we to call just across to Bellevue to get our boxes. We were now to call a 1-800 number. It would be more efficient, they would say. The customer service would be better, they would say. It’s best for the the customer, they would say. But what turned from a casual: “Hey Annie, how’s it going? Is your daughter still at Western?” Turned into: “Iron Mountain, may I help you?” Some call center somewhere near Mars. Robotic people that didn’t know about our lives. Robotic people that wouldn’t slide our box to the front of the van. Robotic people that didn’t know where we wanted our boxes delivered or had no idea who we were. Now we were just a “customer” and they were our “vendor.” What was once a conversational phone call had turned into a business transaction.

I didn’t care anymore. Why should I? Efficiency had turned into complacency. How was I supposed to have a relationship with call center person number 8 who had to speak a standard script every time I called? Sure, I could make the effort but when I would call the next time I’d get call center person number 42 or call center person number 12 or... Not Barbara. Not Annie. Not Dhebi.

How do we create that relationship, one-on-one, down-and-dirty, I’ve-got-your-back-you’ve-got-mine with an All Knowing, ALL POWERFUL, God?