In 2015, Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner announced the Starshot Initiative to see if it would be possible to send a one-gram “nanocraft” from Earth to Alpha Centauri at 20% of the speed of light. Why? According to Hawking: “Mankind has a deep need to explore, to learn to know…. We also happen to be sociable creatures. It is important to us to know if we are alone in the dark.” I believe they missed what was much closer to them in their quest to look beyond. When you boil it down, life is about people and how they relate to each other, and these everyday connections reveal to us the shape of our creator. You don’t have to go to the edge of the universe to find the relational connections we all need. Our success, fulfillment, and happiness depend upon our ability to relate effectively to those around us. The best way to make a lasting difference in this world is to develop qualities we are attracted to in others.
They did, however, get one thing right: little things matter. For example, husbands headed for divorce disregard their wives’ bids for connection 82 percent of the time, while husbands in stable relationships disregard their wives’ bids just 19 percent. Wives headed for divorce act preoccupied with other activities when their husbands bid for their attention 50 percent of the time, while happily married wives act preoccupied in response to their husbands’ bids just 14 percent of the time. Our responses to these little emotional nanocrafts can build or squelch relationships in marriage, our children, and the greater world around us. As we open Ephesians 6, we see that Paul takes his message of submission to another level of our relationships with our family and co-workers.
