Do you ever wish we could go back to what it was like before the Internet. Or perhaps, remember some of the simpler lifestyle we had before, and adopt it now. I know that ‘www’ has caused growth in gargantuan measures in every industry. I know that without Internet, there’d be no blogs (yikes!), no social media (oh no!), no websites for our companies (that would be bad) … but sometimes I miss the simplicity of being unreachable. Of savouring the moment rather than capturing it. Just, beholding what is, right now, right here.
I grew up on a farm, and so often our neighbours and family had the sweet audacity just to show up for a cup of coffee. No calendar date in Outlook. No pop up alert on the phone that they were coming in 15 minutes. Just unannounced. Sigh, how beautiful. I have many memories of my parents throwing the coffee perk on and sitting for two hours with unexpected guests while my sister and I listened around the corner, giggling at the handsome neighbour boy. Ah, childhood shenanigans.
When I was 23, and moving away again for school, I was dead set against getting a cell phone. No one really needs to get a hold of me at all times! Then a friend, who was working at a cell phone shop at the time, gave me his old one. He insisted. I’ll admit, it came in handy on the side of the road when my pink Ford Taurus broke down. Nowadays, I know where my phone is at all times and unless it’s dead and charging, I’m pretty much always reachable. My, how times have changed in such a short time. Sometimes I’d like to hide the device for the day. Or seven.
Rewind to a few years back, when I was slowly meandering through the Vatican museums in Rome. I could hardly believe the brisk pace of other tourists as they walked the halls, clicking their cameras upward. Do they even SEE what they’re capturing…to look at later? I wanted to savour. Take it in. Touch the tapestry hung from the walls. Then as my friend and I walked into the Sistine Chapel, we heard security guards loudly shouting, “No pictures! Ssssshhhhh!” Good luck with that, I thought. Within seconds of being ushered into that sacred room, my eyes welled up. Michelangelo’s nine-years of artwork was astounding and all we could do was bustle about taking a photograph. I had to just lean against the walls and behold. Remember it. The sounds. Oh yes, I also took pictures 😉
So my thought for this week is… I know we need our phones. I know the Internet is here to stay. I for one plan to keep taking pictures and texting and blogging.
But perhaps, just perhaps, we could do a little more beholding in our lives. In the moment, in front of us, within reach. Savour the very moment in our hands.
James 1:17 says that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of light, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” He gives us good gifts. Every day. Let’s not miss them!
Let’s behold more this week!
