Consuming Part Two

 

Yesterday I invited you to pause prayerfully, to be aware and awake to what you were consuming ~ not just through food ~ but through your eyes, ears, heart, soul, and body.  You absorb not only the nutrients of food, you can also take in what is around you and the seas of life you are swimming and sailing.

For example, just because we can watch 24-hours of news, does that make us better informed?  Just because we can refresh Twitter every two seconds with thousands of new tweets, does that change us or help us comprehend?  

The question of what are we consuming and what is consuming us is one of the most difficult to answer.  

I am not a digital native.  I did not grow up with a smartphone in my hand.  But, I am nevertheless tethered to technology.  And all this information we consume is not neutral.  It impacts us.  It evokes and provokes and nudges us.  We may think that because we were the one clicking the mouse to read the story, we are in control...rather than realizing that an algorithm fed us that story and the business that posted it gets paid by us clicking on it.  The world we swim in is complex.  Perhaps the ways we have always treaded water no longer work to stay afloat.

To be aware of how the snippets of stories can cause us to leap to conclusions.  To be awake to how quickly something we hear causes an emotional reaction.  To stay alert to how our soul needs more space to breathe rather than rush to the next things.

Noticing and naming the weather patterns of life is important.  I wonder if the storms that have surged in our soul for the last twenty years of fear, since 9/11, have left our bodies as vulnerable as our planet?  I wonder if the eroding hatred we anonymously post on the internet is akin to the evaporation of top soil of land that has been over-farmed?  Like the earth we walk upon, our bodies are alive and showing significant signs of being overworked, overstressed, and overscheduled.  When we treat our lives, ourselves, this way...why would we treat others or the earth any differently?

Listen to God's words of love for who you are ~ not because of what you consume or comprehend or can produce.  You are loved by the Holy and nothing can separate us from God's love.  So may you and I notice what is happening within us and how it is both impacted by and impacting those who are around us.  And may it be God's love that consumes our lives this day.  Amen.