The Eight Minute Call

My sister, Connie, lives on the family ranch. She is very involved in the daily activities that happen on a ranch. She rides a horse as well as anyone. She fixes fence as well as anyone. She backs the truck up to the horse trailer perfectly on her first attempt. She pulls calves, vaccinates calves, and ear-tags calves. Most of her day is spent outside helping her husband run the ranch.

It’s nearly impossible to reach her on the phone. She carries one, but it only works if you catch her on top of a hill.

Most of our calls happen when she is on her way to town to get repairs, a haircut, or fulfill a doctor’s appointment. She can utilize those thirty miles to catch up on calls. Even then, she often loses service. Unfortunately, we often go for weeks before we talk to each other. Neither one of us like that—but that’s life. It’s easy to get disconnected when you can’t connect!

Then one morning, I read a one-page devotional about the eight-minute phone call. The writer of the devotional references an author, Jancee Dunn, who proposes the power of an eight-minute phone call. Ms. Dunn believes these short calls can help us connect with family and friends.

The next time I talked to Connie, I told her what I had read. I asked her if she thought we could find an eight-minute window somewhere in the week to connect. She was enthused, too. I was ecstatic.

“You pick the time and day,” I said, “since I’m more flexible.”

“Let’s do Mondays at noon my time—eleven yours. I’ll call, but if I forget, you call me.”

She hasn’t forgotten to call once, and we’ve been doing it for a month now. Sometimes we exceed eight minutes, and that’s okay if we both have the time. When it’s necessary to keep it short, we hit on the week’s highlights and a prayer request or two and call it good. After all, we’ll be talking again in a week. We are connecting!

I feel that we are living out 1 Thessalonians 5:11: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” And boy, does that feel good!

Such a simple little thing—eight minutes a week. But what a positive difference it makes for us. Connie and I have both shared how we look forward to these calls. There is power in them—just as author Jancee Dunn said.

Until next month, keep on readin’, and I’ll keep on writin’.

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