This past week, in a fit of technological frustration, I looked out the window to see there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and to be reminded of the well over 70° forecast.
All morning my computer had been coming at me with “Start-up disk full” notifications, 2 unread mailboxes, incoming texts, papers to be written, graphics to be created, and digital files overflowing at the screens.
Like Okkkk, I get it, you’re at your wit’s end.
ME, TOO.
To put it lightly, nature called & was beckoning me to take a break outside. As I listened to that inner pull [because I’ve finally learned to do so], I found myself walking ocean-side a short 20 minutes later. Praise Jesus for living near the beach.
As the waves crashed in, and I thought back to my agitated morning, I couldn’t help but think about our incredible memory capacity—as merely humans.
Even though our memory is capable of telling us what once was, it will never limit our ability to also create anew.
Everyday. To build from here.
What a blessing to know we will never have to stop creating, experiencing, growing, learning, or storing new memories.
Yet no matter how hard our digital world works to engage us in a plethora of platforms, install programs, and craft conveniences we’ve never known before (helllo Amazon Prime Now); it can not and will not out-design that which God has already coded into your human spirit + soul.
Funny how we keep looking for more and God keeps saying, “I’ve given you all you need”.
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” [Ezekiel 36:26]
He’s making tiny deposits into the depths of our souls on a daily basis and we keep roaming for validation on the hallows of the e-sphere.
We’re no stranger to attention overload. We spread ourselves thin and we reach mental exhaustion before the clock strikes noon. And still, we will never be measured by the number of gigabytes we purchase on our MacBooks or the amount of iCloud storage we upgrade to. We will never have to worry about not being or not having “enough”.
Seriously? Enough with the feeling of “not ____ enough” already.
Sometimes I have to just smile at His handiwork—the things we fret about and hold onto, he’s already created “bug fixes” for. We can cry out & cry out to Him and we’ll never hear the response: “Startup disk full.”
Our Creator is never overloaded. He’ll never tell us “Sorry, there’s no more room.” He’ll never ask us to upgrade or buy more, but he will keep subtly inviting us to buy in.
And with that—He will keep giving us more of His love, His grace, His mercy, His peace.
Sometimes in our cry for more, it feels as though He isn’t answering, but maybe He’s simply saying, “Dear Child— today, you need less. Still your heart. In my quiet truth is your access to more”.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” [Isaiah 40:8]
“Less is more and more is less …the righteous are God-strong.” [Psalm 37:16-17 MSG]
WHAT IF, today, before we followed one more account on social media, we put down our devices, picked up our Bibles, and chose to follow His word?
What if for everything one thing we added, we thought of one thing to remove? For each new list-serve we subscribed to, we opted out of another. For every app downloaded, we removed one we don’t even use. For every ‘like’, we thought of one person to smile at (emoji free, #IRL) and even, to heaven forbid—extend a hug to (O-M-G).
Because the more we crowd and clutter our spaces, the less we can hear ourselves think. In our attempts to fuel inspiration, we invite disruption.
One thing is for certain, we can’t out-design, out-code, out-develop, or out-download our God. Sometimes we have to log-off the WiFi and connect to His peace. We have to stop striving for the world’s attention and start consuming our thoughts with His truths.
For THIS is what it means to be refreshed [Jeremiah 31:25].
I’ve quoted this before, but I’ll use it again because I love it that much:
“…When we don’t need to be seen or heard, we can see and hear in desperately needed ways.” [Anne Voskamp]
Truly, less is [still] more.
x Kaitlyn
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