I remember as a young person playing the game of telephone with a large group of friends. It’s the game where the first person in the circle whispers a message to the person next to them, then that person whispers what they heard – or thought they heard – to the person next to them, and so on until the message reaches the last person in the circle. That person must then announce the message they received and compare it with the originator’s message.
The results were rarely accurate, and often times were so far from the original message that it could be quite humorous. After the originator revealed the actual message, the discussions and playful accusations would begin – each person trying to figure out where the miscommunication started and the intended message derailed.
Since you couldn’t ask the conveyor of the message to repeat themselves, the recipient’s understanding was limited to the conveyors delivery and their perception. In that, I found there to be two types of communicators and receivers: those who understood only a portion of the message then improvised the rest; and those who thought they understood the message but confidently passed along their interpretation. Then of course, there was occasionally that one person who deliberately changed or added to the message with the intent of sabotaging the original message.
As I recalled the game of telephone, I began to draw similarities between the opinions and conclusions we form in our lives. In this world of unrest and discontent, we must be careful that our reactions and responses are not based on what someone proclaims to be truth – because their understanding can be tainted by biases and misunderstanding. We cannot blindly assume that what we hear is the “truth”, because the carriers of information – other human beings – are susceptible to flaws and errors.
When contemplating a belief and response that will define our behaviors and futures, I believe we should go to the originator of “truth”. Only God knows the intricacies of situations, only God knows the complexities of circumstances, only God knows the minutiae that defines an event or occurrence. Only God knows how to unravel the ball of confusion this world has become. To live the best life possible, we must go to the “source” of truth, peace, and stability in all things. When in confusion or crisis, may we hang up the telephone and learn to talk with Him directly.
For more on this topic, please visit the Whimspiration YouTube channel “Faith Hope & Friends”.