“Dave, it has to be on your end,” I said, patiently.

“Patty, I want you to turn off your phone and turn it on again.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I can call everyone except you.  My calls go directly to your Voicemail.”

“So why couldn’t that be your phone’s fault?  You’re in Mexico.  I’m in the United States.  Chances are, I have better reception than you have. After all, my calls go through to you; yours don’t come through to me.”

This went on for a few days.  In that time, I, a submissive wife, followed Dave’s advice and turned my phone off and back on. No success.  Dave’s email let me know that he couldn’t figure out why I didn’t answer his texts.  “Because I never got them,” I answered

This was not going well.

I called Dave.  “I will visit Verizon to see if this is my phone’s fault,” I said, trying to be a good team player, even though I was positive this problem was his phone, not mine.

“Great. Unless you’ve blocked me, there has to be a problem coming from the carrier.”

“Or you,” I added.

How silly of him to say, “Unless you’ve blocked me.” Who would block their spouse? Just to make sure I wasn’t responsible for this disaster, however, I checked my contact list.

Sure as shootin’, he was blocked.

Desperate measures were needed.  How could I make Dave think that he was responsible?  Was it possible for him to block himself?  I think not.

“Well, what do you know, Honey?  You were blocked. Ha-ha. I have no idea how that happened.”

Dave then reminded me that I had blocked three other friends in the past few months.  Like this was an epidemic or something.

Anyway, we worked it out, but as I thought about how easy it was to block someone unintentionally, I considered how I sometimes do it intentionally, like ignoring a phone call or a text because I just want to be alone.

But what if I block God?  Like when I feel His nudging to do something kind that day, but I’m too tired or too irritable or too insensitive to obey.

Yes, I do that, but my New Year’s resolution is to listen to Him purposefully and do what He says.

This morning, I felt God telling me to be kind to someone I didn’t know.  I was flying from K.C. to Florida, and I had gotten little sleep, but I was determined to obey.

I won’t list here all the things that went wrong, but I still had opportunities to help.

At ticketing, I traded places with a man who was late for his flight.  Going through security, I overheard a mother instructing her teenage son on what to do while traveling alone.  I assured her that I would get her son to the right gate…which I would have, had I not been pulled out of line because I had five ounces of sun screen in my carry bag instead of the three allowed. Ultimately, I caught up with him and assured him he was at the right gate. He looked at me like I was a nut-case.

While boarding, I noticed a young girl standing by herself.  I struck up a conversation with her.  She was “really nervous” as she never had flown alone before, so I told her that I would wait for her when we deplaned and get her to her next flight.  She seemed thankful when I ushered her through the airport, although she seemed to know exactly what she was doing.

Still, not bad for one day. Let’s just hope I can say the same at the end of 2023.