Enthusiastically, Dawn

I pick up my phone to do one thing. It’s early morning, and before I settle in for a cup of coffee and quiet, I find the phone on the counter ready to emerge from its overnight slumber. I carry the tiny apple into the living room, and sit gazing into the vertical rectangular face and its ever ready to serve mode. Twenty minutes later…or is it thirty? I realize I have l forgotten why I picked up the phone to begin with. This is the power we hold in our hand with these small servants. But is it a power any of us can truly wield?

Is it possible your phone is making you forget?

Forgetting is a frightful matter. Humanity seems wired for it, and destined to it, by default. Our proness to forget is, perhaps, part of our genetic make-up. Certainly, forgetfullness is part of our spiritual story and legacy. It has many names, comes in many forms.

Add technology to humanity and it’s no wonder the world’s fascination with itself increases while the actual helfulness to those selves living in it is decreased. Existential crisis overload, and all the while no one recognizes they are having one, because they are preoccupied with gazing into their own personal mirror- their phone. Or as Tolkein in Gollum, hissed “…my precious!” Phone, throne, mirror, I say tomatoe you say sauce. It really comes down to one question. Is anyone wondering what the One True God looks down and sees in all this busyness? In all our self-absorbed, justified, rationalized, peaceless evolution- do we even consider the God who created the Cosmos and His perception of our bold desires to rule our lttle kingdoms – sometimes for His glory, so we say. But how can anyone be consecrated and set apart, and also forgetful of the one they are consecrated to, set apart for? How can we say we seek God and His Kingdom first, all the while we are slaves bowing down before a multitude of minor deities. Good things, we say. And often bowing down to one another – NOT – in preferential goodness but in a frenzy of muted worship. The creature worshipping other creatures. Oh. how the gods of superficiality, and momentary satisfaction reign. Forgetfullness leads to blindness, and maybe that’s the point.

Forgetfullness is blindness to what matters most. Forgetfulness steals what is precious, the moment, and trades it for a lifetime of slavery. Our whole human narrative reveals a propensity to prefer slavery to freedom. There I said it.

be sure you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

Deuteronomy 8:14 (NET)

In the blink of an eye.

Am I saying that phones are no good. Tecnology is terrible. Social media is a lying deciever. No. Well the social media one is definately, yes. But I am saying the space between your ears- your eyegate to the soul, needs to be guarded diligently. I also will say that none of us is up to the task. Alone. This battle is one that none of us adults – never mind children and young adults, can navigate apart from a supernatural helping. Or Helper. Only the One who is wisdom and truth can combat the dark forces of these days. Any days, past, present and future.

Your phone will make you forget, what matters most, who you are (yes, WHO YOU ARE), and why you matter. That’s a lot to combat. If you allow yourself to be tethered to your phone I believe you are tethered to another god. And it would do you well to search and see how often you pick up the phone and find yourself lesser for it.

I know all the arguments and justifications. But having tasted freedom, tested the waters, and found that the water is clearer, cleaner and purer as I have untethered myself and continue to swim in the somewhat limited pool which the Lord has safeguarded – meaning mostly no socail media (I use GoodReads and YouTube as sparingly as possible). I am still resisiting Substack use as I have limited time, and that’s the bottom line. I want a life lived before God’s eyes, not the world’s. Not all of my “friends” or all of my family. None of us needs full accesss, 24 hours, 7 days to anyone or everyplace, or every bit of information and news, who or which not being in your immediate circle. It’s killing us all. And we are blindly allowing it. At minimimum, it is minimizing us.

And by default, we forget. In a blink, what matters most. Who we are. Why we matter at all. Our lives are made up by miniscule moments in time. How many of those precious moments do you want to spend staring at your phone while you are sitting with the ones you are meant to see. How many moments do you want to give to the algorythym gods, to the gods we can’t see- but are just as present as the God who was and is and is to come…who is also unseen, present and greater.

I know we can’t go back. I know there is also much good I am grateful for in the use of these tecnologies. But here again, less is always the best. In almost every realm. Life is short. None of us knows the length of our days. I am grateful I can remember the world before it became like Babbel. When there was margin, gap, whitespace, uncrowded space…in my brain. When Sundays the world paused. And it was a tangible beautiful slowing, that could be felt. A day when everything stopped, and people still remembered what mattered most, who they were, and why they mattered. Maybe I was too young to understand the power of it then. But I do remember it, and even long for it a bit now. And maybe in my own way, I am trying to redeem something of that time. At least in my own way, and my own life. I know in the few years I have pulled back from social media scrolling, text tethering, and excess nosy news dabbling, my peace and joy has increased. My distraction has decresed, and my avilability to God in real time has been enhanced. I hope this does not sound like bragging- I have seen these blessings, but it is sometimes right there, in my hands- the mindless temptation to do what is less, not best. But we have to fight for what is God’s – and know who we belong to- who made us. I only hope this momentary sharing reminds you- and affirms for me – to fight the drift toward slavery. It’s a battle you are in whether you acknowledge it or not. And time is not merciful. But God is. He redeems humanity. He redeemd me, and He continues to redeem those who acknowledge Him, and His truth.

Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:6-7 (NET)

If you never forget to look at your phone, I pray you start. Forget the phone. It just might be the antidote to forgetting God.

Lord, may these words bring blessing and freedom, like a breath of fresh air, to even one person today. I pray in the name of Jesus. My Savior, Redeemer, Lord, and Only King. Amen.

If you got through this piece today, thank your for reading. I have been a bit laid up the past weeks with an asthmatic flare-up and have had lots of sit down and listen time with God.

Enthusiastically, Dawn