The Way of the Dodo

A few weeks ago, I ran across an article expounding on the different aspects of life that are becoming obsolete or extinct. Of course we can all think of a few that have occurred in the last ten years: typewriters, eight-track cassettes, manual transmission cars, but the list from the Washington Post was a bit more exhaustive. Here is a list of a few of the things that Anna Jane Grossman brings forth as leaving - the way of the dodo:

Maps: With new GPS technology, folding maps has become a thing of the past. No more expletives when trying to figure out which section is folded first or finding the most direct route to towns that might not even appear on the map itself. Plus, it's much more fun to listen to a GPS system tell you to 'TURN AROUND NOW!!!" I think they even come with GPS systems for men which tell us "Now you'll never again have to pretend you know where you are going."

Cash: This is a true head-scratcher to me, but our society may be in the last throes of money that folds in wallets or jingle lingle lings in your pocket. For the first time in history it now costs more to make the money than it is worth. So - plastic. But, fear not, plastic in the next ten years will also become instinct. Cell phone technology will probably increase so much that all banking transactions will be done on the phone. Another interesting detail about a cash-less society is that even the most iconic of games, Monopoly, has now switched to cash-less. Each person is given a credit card and the banker swipes the card every time a transaction is made. Only the banker and the buyer know how much money the player has left. And, instead of receiving $200 when passing 'Go', the player receives two million dollars. That's quite the increase in real estate value.

Blind Dates: What used to be the scariest of moments in a single person's life, is now a little more under control. Because we are a 'googling' society, we can find out exactly what our blind date is like even before we accept the uncomfortable pressure from our parents.

Short shorts: Although these shorts, thankfully, went out of style in the early 1990's, they actually weren't buried until John Stockton retired from the NBA. Although, as recently as 2006, at a retro-throwback game between the Lakers and the Celtics, the Lakers wore short basketball shorts. Here was the quote from Kobe Bryant, star of the Lakers whose team was losing dreadfully at halftime: "I don't know what it feels like to wear a thong, but I imagine it feels like what we had on in the first half. I felt violated. I felt naked." Ah, remember the days. My high school basketball uniform shorts were so tight, it looked like I was wearing only my underwear. No wonder we lost so many basketball games.

Cassette tapes: They went out of style quite a while ago; CD's took over and hadn't really given up the ghost. But not only were tapes popular back in the 80's so were 'mix tapes.' Perhaps all of you gen x'ers can remember waiting for the top 9 at 9 to hear your sweet love muffin in 7th grade dedicating a song by Chicago or Styx. By that radio you would sit and as soon as the DJ would start to announce the dedication, you would press record on your 'boom box' which was as big as a hatchback car. Then, after recording Richard Marx's "Hold on to the Night," you would try to add a few other songs that would help you get through the day. Maybe "Money for Nothin'" or "We Built This City on Rock and Roll." What about "Heart of Rock and Roll." Sheesh. It's like taking a stroll through music's hall of shame. I remember when I was about ten years old, while we were eating family supper, I would take out the tape recorder, set it in front of the television and record the music from "Solid Gold." It wasn't quite the same without the dancers, but I was unusually hypnotized by Dionne Warwick.

So many treasures of the past become useless or else simply irrelevant with new technology. One of the startling beauties of the past that seems to be going the way of the dodo is prayer. More and more I talk to people about prayer life and they say that they either find prayer outdated or useless, or else they just don't have time. They don't see the purpose and more than one person has said, "God already knows what I want and He'll give it to me if He wants to." Prayer has been relegated to a role of polishing Aladdin's lamp and expecting a handsome thirty-three year old Jesus to come dancing out of the spout to address the concerns of daily monetary conditions, not just daily bread.

The confirmation class and I were talking about this very question just this last weekend. They now wonder if God really listens or if we should just pray when we are expected to like bedtime. "Now I lay me down to sleep..." or the speed prayer at meal time. During the rest of the day we're on our own. But C. S. Lewis and others liken prayer not just to asking God for what we want but allowing God to share with us what we need most. Sometimes we don't' even know ourselves. Prayer is not changing God's mind but allowing God to change us so that we realize we depend on Him for everything. When we think about our relationship with parents or guardian growing up, often they provide all of our needs without asking or even thanking. But imagine the shock if a child were to ask and thank their parent for everything that was given to them? What would happen if my own children were to thank us for the roof over their heads, the meals in front of them and the books that grace their rooms? Imagine my delighted shock and then my willingness to give even more to make them happy.

Isn't it so with God? If we were to ask and thank God for all the things to come, imagine how much more blessed we are in realizing that God does this simply because He loves us. Just through prayer. And the more we pray, the easier it becomes - the conversation is not limited to bedtime or mealtime, but lifetime - one long dialogue between the holy one of the universe and a minuscule human like me. It is hard to imagine.

So, if the option arises for you, don't let your prayer life go the way of the dodo. It is not obsolete; in fact, it is so incredibly important, that living without it is like living with shortened breaths. Pray, my friends. Pray.