Living Investments

For most of us we have a pretty good idea what we are going to do each day. There is work with its meetings and calls and tasks to attend to in order to fulfill our duties. Some I look forward to and some are necessary to my job. With smart phones and home computers work now extends to the whole day and maybe night for some of us. Some of us may find we have a day in the garden or doing chores around the house. Taking care of the car and cleaning the garage of the accumulation that can be found there. Most people have more stuff than places to put it We are a society of possessions and work that takes up most of our waking hours and well, life.

If you are reading this, you have access to the Internet, a computer or mobile device and have spent enough time online to know your way around. You are part of a society that spends as much if not more time interacting with people through smart phone screens or computer monitors than we do in person or on the phone. The trend today is that most relatives and long time friends know each other through Facebook and Facetime rather than real face time where we can spend real human to human intimacy.

Some of us got here by growing into it. We may have been born with party lines and postal service as a method of communication and libraries and news hours to get the skinny on what was happening in the world. Others have always had a smart phone in their hand and a tablet beside them.

However we got to this place of electronic interaction and work that takes 50-60 or more hours of our week and possessions that take the rest of our time….we now have less time for quiet, for solitude. Less time to contemplate the big things in life like what is important, really important to us. What matters to us as human beings and as children of God. And where has it gotten us. Have we found truth and peace and joy in living on the internet? Has our smartphone brought us closer to understanding our purpose and place in this world? Has online searches really resulted in profound answers? I don’t think so. These are pacifiers that only draw us into ignoring the big questions in life and in ignoring the truth to our own existence. They are like reading cliff notes and expecting to have the same experience as reading the novel. It wont happen. Living most of our hours for work, possessions and online gives us a means certainly. Work to enable our sustenance. But does it need to be all consuming? Possessions are enjoyable and useful but have they ever brought lasting joy. And well, the internet. It is a life numbing entity that pulls families away from connecting in intimacy, it has taken the place of parenting and love.

This weekend is the Fourth Sunday of Easter for those of us that are Catholic or follow the traditional seasons. Maybe this is our time to put down the smart phone and spend time talking to the person in front of us or just listening to our world. No objective or agenda…just listen.

If we are lucky we may find God talking to us. It may be the person in front of us needs our attention more than work email or the friend on Facebook who just showed how cute their puppy was today. We can be there for them or they might just be Christ for us. If we listen long enough, with smart phones turned off or silenced and face down, we may even once again be able to hear the whisper, the quiet voice, that is God reaching out to us.

We are truly children of a loving God who seeks to be in relationship with us. But God has always been about relationships where both parties choose to say yes. To prioritize their day and life so that there is time and attention. It’s called free will. God asks us to choose him. He does not compel us.

Will we have time today or tomorrow or Sunday to be quiet for an hour maybe…phones off and just be with God in silence. Maybe take a walk along a path that goes nowhere. Maybe we can take our children or friends. No phones. Just people.

If we seek the truth and invest time and attention we will find it. This is where peace and joy will be found.