There was a special maple tree of my childhood at the edge of my parents’ driveway. I spent some considerable time on its branches, just lost in thought, appreciating the view. Likewise, the most time I ever spent looking out a window at the wide world was on road trips to vacation destinations. That simple practice, unknowingly at the time, was welling up a gratitude within me. To see beauty in cornfields, mountains, and trees was to see God working in the world. And even today, I am still that person in our car that gets a little too excited if I notice a pasture dotted with black and white cows.
My enthusiasm is usually met with a few murmurs from the backseat. The tablets and phone are just so much more thrilling than a hundred Holsteins.
Let’s be honest…it’s not just the kids. We adults struggle with the pull of technology, too. Just look around the room at a family birthday, or after Thanksgiving dinner.
I know that personally, the lure of my phone has increased in the past few years. In many ways, living so attached to my technology causes me to detach from the Lord, my family, and many tasks at hand. It’s living with a mind divided, and constantly at the ready to receive the pings of notifications.
Perhaps it’s a struggle for you, too?
But, maybe it’s not a new struggle, humanly speaking. In previous decades, it may have been the new family computer. And prior to that, the multiple televisions in the home. Yes, it seems that distraction in our days has always been there.
With it fitting snugly in the palm of our hands, however, likely this generation’s struggle with distraction is much more complex. There is an ever-present, nagging worry inside of me that my children and their generation will have more difficulty walking with the Lord, and pursuing Him on purpose.
Their minds are wired for quick, easy, and entertaining. There’s more noise now than ever. Living in a state of nearly-constant scrolling and watching chattering YouTubers, conversations with people are challenging, let alone conversing with God.
When the electronic devices of this day direct our every thought & every move, it seems the power of Holy Spirit is pushed away.
Oh, He is present, for sure. But, us? We are elusive, preoccupied.
Our awareness can be dulled or completely gone altogether. Dull with checking emails… dull with commenting on pictures… dull with browsing online sites endlessly… with as much as we can do on our phones, it can truly make our minds dull to the life in front of us.
The cure for this dullness lies within these phrases:
“How clearly the sky reveals God's glory! How plainly it shows what he has done! Each day announces it to the following day; each night repeats it to the next. No speech or words are used, no sound is heard;”
Psalm 19:1-3
Our children and theirs that follow must learn to live in awe of the world created by God. He is, after all, the first influencer, content creator, and blogger (see Genesis to Revelation). He is still reigning king, our guiding Holy Spirit, and risen Savior.
Long, healthy doses of looking up and around in this world- that’s the antidote. And parents & grandparents, if we can enjoy a sunset stroll without a phone, so can they. If we can model a family holiday without a phone, so can they. If we can read the Word, star gaze, enjoy some porch time, spend some friend time, sit at the beach…..all without a phone, so can they.
Let’s be mindfully encouraging this next generation that boundaries with technology is ESSENTIAL to walking with Jesus. Usher the wonder of this world purposefully into their days—- just be sure to put your phone on the counter, too.
Psalm 8
“LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angelsand crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Photo by Marina Liashchuk on Unsplash
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