My good friend Scott Lee was looking for a place to publish his occasional, short musings. A proponent of “less is more” – he wanted a venue smaller than a blog of his own but bigger than a status update or Tweet. His writings are in a different style than my own and I welcome the variety. Hope you enjoy.
I could waste your time with a long intro.
Or I could get right down to the point, which is what this post is kind of about.
For me words are starting lose their power.
Every day I read thousands of words. I browse countless articles and blog posts, mostly about technology. But occasionally I’ll stop by a well know ministry related site.
Here’s my confession. After nearly everything I read my action is no more than simply closing my laptop lid. I go unaffected. Unchanged. Is it on purpose or am I just overwhelmed? I don’t know.
Here’s the kicker, I’ve started noticing my online word-handling affecting my attitude towards the words I read in the Bible. I treat them as having the same weight. Before you stone me let me just say yes, I know in my very being that the words found in the Bible are not just the penned words of my forefathers. They are words from the Father.
But still I struggle.
What advice do you have for me?
What advice do you have for others like me that read words and discard the message?
Can we, the people flooded by noise be resurrected?
This Life Journey 
I think it’s really a matter of being mindful, being present; and that goes for anything in life, not just reading sacred texts. The flood of information we face these days often leads to a persistent state of motion — all action; no presence. We read, but we don’t muse. We write or speak, but we don’t communicate. We eat, but we don’t taste. We see, but we don’t look. When we remember to bring ourselves back to stillness, to fully engage in whatever we’re doing, that’s how we can truly experience it and in turn find the meaning in the experience.
Totally.
Thank you for sharing Elizabeth.
Being present is another one of my strong passions. And you hit the nail right on the head. Being present in this age where it is expected of us to consume, is difficult. Wait…impossible. We cannot continue this diet of expectation and be surprised when we’re found wanting.
i write words for a living. but i can still totally relate to what you’re saying and how you feel. i also breeze past words – whether they’re on a site or a page, hunting for the key words, trying to avoid the time it takes to fully dive in and embrace the experience of reading. it’s hard in our culture – we communicate in about 140 characters or less, and even fewer than that when it comes to texts. i don’t know i have the answer or any advice except that when it comes to God, we have to have more discipline now than ever to not breeze past His words, to not try to “phone it in” with him in a short tweet-like prayer, and to give the relationship time to flourish and not skip past that too – although some days it does seem easier.