“Keep your eyes straight ahead, ignore all sideshow distractions.”

Proverbs 4:25

Chances are, if you’re reading this right now, there’s a very strong likelihood that you’re reading it from your phone, and the fact that we can be connected like that is pretty incredible. I mean, think about it, you have near constant access to any information you could want, to all (or most) of your loved ones, and a round-the-clock stream of the latest news and current events. In many ways, that can be wildly helpful and a great thing. But something I’m not sure we talk about enough is how much it can also drag us down and be a hindrance to our lives. In a world where we have constant access to everything, that unfortunately means everything also has constant access to us, and if we aren’t careful, I believe one day we’re going to look back and face a type of grief no generation before us ever has, cellular grief. 

I used to go over to my grandparents’ house nearly every afternoon, just to hang out for a bit. My grandpa always had the best stories and was an incredible storyteller, and I wish I was about to tell you one of those stories and how it relates to this, but unfortunately, I can’t. Because, well, I only remember a few of them. When he was telling me about all of his incredible adventures and memories with his friends and family, I had my nose in my phone, waiting for a text from whoever my crush was that week, sending videos to friends, or scrolling mindlessly through an Instagram feed designed to make sure I never closed the app. And truthfully, I don’t remember most of those girls, couldn’t name a single video I sent, and don’t treasure a single Instagram post from ten years ago. But my goodness, what I’d give to hear another one of those stories. And I wonder if one day, when I have grandkids of my own, will I have even made enough memories to tell them about?

As more time passes, I think more and more of the memories I may have missed. Not just with my grandfather, but on car trips with my mom, watching movies with my family, hanging out with friends, moments where I should have had memories, but instead I’m left with a record of cellular data usage and a phone that got traded in for a new model. But more than that, I wonder about this in terms of the verse I shared at the beginning of this devotional. Am I keeping my eyes focused on what matters, or am I letting myself get distracted? Because it’s not all about me and my memories. How many opportunities to show the love of Christ to people around me might I miss because I was mindlessly scrolling? What if someone desperately needed an encouraging word, a smile, or just to be noticed, and I missed it because my nose was buried in my phone? What if a friend desperately needed a listening ear, but stopped trying because they felt I cared more about what was on the little screen in front of me than the person beside me? In John 21:17, Jesus tells Peter, “If you love me, feed my sheep.” If we love Him, are we feeding His sheep? Or are we just letting them starve while we rot away in our distractions? I don’t want us to experience cellular grief, and I don’t want us to cause God cellular grief either. This week, where can you find time to put the distractions away, and be present for someone who may need it? 

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