Life crammed to the very edges. Even moments meant to breathe are stuffed with another scroll of the screen. Life is virtual until some crisis forces us back to flesh and blood reality. It’s wall to wall consumption for mind, eyes, and ears.
Solomon said it well when he wrote:
“No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” Ecclesiastes 1:8
I like the King James rendition, “the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
However many wall posts we consume, however many insta-pics we devour, however many tunes we Spot – it will never be enough to satisfy.
If many of our lives were laid on paper it would look like this, with no margin for moments to consider or process what’s already on the page.
Instead, we need to scrub the ink and change the daily page, leave some room for notes and frivolity. A little doodling and room enough for someone else to join in our song.
Design your life, don’t live by default. The modern norm is to fill every moment. Divine design is sabbath living. A calendar and routine punctuated with moments of reflection, meditation and gratitude.
And I am the chief of sinners. I love what I do. I’m ambitious and full of ideas. I have responsibilities to fulfil and children to keep, a community to serve. But more and more my eyes are opened to the fact that my best service is rendered when I am present. Not lost in my next project, or locked in my own schemes for world domination.
Open up some white space. Enlarge the margins.
Original thought does not happen when there’s no space for fresh insights to flow.
Look for ways to enjoy what you have rather than reach for what you don’t.
Gratitude for today paves the way for a brighter tomorrow.
Dump the baggage if that’s what’s required – inside and out.
Clutter of any kind crowds out contentment.
Take a moment to celebrate your wins.
A day to delight in what you’ve made and how far you’ve traveled.
Our insistence that the world will crumble if we don’t keep scrambling and hustling highlights our lack of trust in a higher power – a power that provided not only for our present but for an eternal future. Jesus paved the way for peace to reign in our hearts, and his providence extends to every area of life.
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” 2 Peter 1:3
There’s room for you to stop and breathe.
To broaden the boundaries so you’re free to create.
