If you are like most people, the first thing you do when you wake up is look at your screen.
After you take a shower, you check your email while you eat breakfast.
On you commute to work, you check your social media while stopped at a red light and you check again shortly after finding a place in the parking lot.
At work, at home, in the bathroom, while pumping gas, heck, even when your own kids are begging for you to read them a book, your life is surrounded by screens, screens, and more screens.
Your life is a liturgy.
Every act you commit, for better or for worse, belongs to God and I’d be willing to wager that much of what we do and say with our devices gives little to further God’s kingdom and much less to strengthen our souls and nourish our bodies. Repetitively, we follow the same rite of unlocked screens and eternal scrolls throughout our day and what do we gain from it? A few “likes” and a comment or two?
While technology has the potential to satisfy our curiosity and cure our boredom, it tends to distract us from achieving our ultimate goal- that of our salvation.
To change that, we need to add breadth and depth to our daily lives. We need to return to a daily liturgy that looks more like the “ancient” rite from 20 years ago. You know, the time before technology turned us into screen addicts.
Here’s how:
Pray
God tells us that the most important commandment is “to love God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself” (Mat. 22: 37-38). Having a consistent prayer time a the beginning of the day connects our souls to God and unites our will with His. As prayer becomes a habit, you find yourself seeing the world through God’s eyes. When this happens, almost every act you commit becomes an intentional way of knowing loving, and serving God.
Exercise
St. Paul tells us, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Cor. 6: 19-20). I think we forget how beautiful our physical bodies are and can be. We tend to put physical exercise at the bottom of our priority list. We eat what we shouldn’t and our pulse remains stagnant in a world that needs our endurance to be sufficient “to fight the good fight, to win the race, to keep the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). A daily routine of physical exercise can take our bodies from lowly missionary chapels to breathtaking Cathedrals.
Read
Proverbs tells us that “though it cost you everything you have, get wisdom” (Prov 4:7). Erasmus echoes the sentiment when he wrote, “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” Technology has made it easier than ever to read books and listen to them via audio books. And yet, we tend to use our screens instead to play games and loose ourselves in feeds. Read more books and you’ll become more interesting of a person to talk to. Read more books and you’ll gain a better perspective on life, people, and God. Read more books and you’ll find yourself on your phone a lot less.
Pursue Your Passion
God has given you a mission to complete. He’s supplied you with the skills and time to do it. He’s also given you the desire to go through the long and tiring hours needed in order to accomplish it. What is it that drives you, that makes you unique from the rest of the world?
Are you a writer? Then write 500-1000 words a day with God as your inspiration.
Are you a runner? Then train for that 10K with God by your side.
Are you a wood carver? Then shape your slab into a beautiful work of art with Jesus (who knew a thing or two about carpentry) as your muse.
You were meant to create something good, true, and beautiful. Each day, do something to develop your talents, practice your craft, and produce fruit for the kingdom.
These are only 4 things that we should be doing every day to become holier in the a world where illuminated screens tend to overshadow our passions. But “in God’s light we see light itself” (Psalm 36:9), which means that wherever there are shiny devices and twiddly thumbs that stroke them, grace abounds all the more.
I would add this to the list: keep relational connections strong. That is, be a good friend, spouse, father, etc… While I agree with the initial four on the list, they are focused on ‘self’, which is required to build a one’s foundation. But once this is established, others need to be part of our movement to grow closer to God every single day. Growing and strengthening those ‘connections’ are a very important part of each day. I believe we can grow closer to God through others and our relationship to them.
Well put, Eric.