The other day I found myself hours deep in a social media brain-suck.
My eyes began to blur as a twinge of pain started to rumble in my right temple threatening a headache and bringing me back to reality. My face was in this involuntary wincey scrunch position as I blinked to adjust to the light that seemed more piercing than I remembered it being 45 minutes ago.
But once I looked up from my phone the tension in my eyes almost immediately dissipated as they refocused on real life.
It took me a few good umphs to get out of the me-shaped hole I had left in the couch and a few minutes to find my sea legs, but once I was up I felt … icky. Well, that’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back. And for what? All I had done for the last hundred and something minutes was refresh my Facebook feed … then Tik Tok … then email and LinkedIn (you know you’re an adult when) until my eyes literally burned.
How much had I missed going on around me? My 17-month-old and newborn were napping, and my husband was at work, but how else could I have spent that time? It didn’t feel good.
A wave of conviction washed over me as the Lord spoke to my heart. How much of Jesus have I missed with my face buried in the things of this world?
How much time has worry stolen from me? Will we have enough money for gas and groceries after tithing and bills this month? Will my babies be safe at school? What’s going to happen if they take our guns?
How many minutes have I given over to gossip? “Oh yeah, well guess what I heard!” and “You’re never going to believe…”
How many Mommy look!’s have I missed when I was enthralled by envy because the Joneses got the latest and greatest car according to Instagram?
How many times have I hushed God’s voice to hear the fleeting and empty promises of (insert sin that sounds really fun here)?
We’ve got to pull back from the things that so easily pull us in. We’ve got to look up. We’ve got to blink the eyes of our hearts and let the light in.
We were not created to live in the tension of serving two masters. It was never supposed to be like this. We’ve got to readjust our heavenly focus. Nothing is as exhausting as trying to keep up with the world. Our enemy, the Devil, has come to steal your time, kill your joy, and destroy your faith.
Look up. Readjust. Press on.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:2-3).
