President's Day Weekend
So after taking off a couple days from the computer, I'm back. Thankful to have had a long weekend with friends in town and just enjoying actual interactions with people, a pastime many have forgotten in our society. We drove over to Seaside and made a day of it on Saturday. We got the massive mimosas from Modica Market and ate gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches from The Meltdown 30A.
As we sat on the central lawn of Seaside eating our lunch, we noticed how everyone was enjoying this quaint town and what it provided. It was almost like the Truman show movie that was filmed here never left. Kids were riding bikes without helmets, making friends with other children they had just met, sharing, and parents were introducing themselves and being PRESENT! There probably 100 people sitting around this lawn and not a single one was on their phone! Not even to take a picture! I didn't take a picture, because I felt like that would ruin the moment as well. The nice part about not taking one, is the inclination to go back and make it happen again or make that moment happen everywhere in life.
Saturday night we had a brown sugar-soy glazed salmon that I baked, along with wild rice, and a fresh salad. We sat around the kitchen table and just talked until the kids began to whine and we shifted to our bedtime rituals. Our combined three children bathed in the tub together (all girls under the age of 4) and then proceeded to get dressed, fed, and wound down. The moms went to bed around 9:00pm to lay with the girls, comforting them to sleep.
This allowed for some good bonding time with myself and my friend Justin, of almost 10 years. We are both in similar stages of life, although we are a few years apart in age and duration of marriage. He has two children, I have one. He has been married for almost 6 years, and I have been married for almost 4. But we are both men who are Christians seeking a revival of our faith, in addition to a revival of society. I guess both of these ideas coincide. As I analyze all of this more and more, I'm beginning to think it is a "1/3 Life Crisis." But in reality, I would say that we are both aware that our lives are no longer about us. We are captains of our families and we are looked to as leaders, pillars, directors, whatever you want to call it. This demands that we know who we are, that we are consistent in that identity, and that requires that we are principled people that are not having our emotions or personalities swaying with the changes of the wind.
Justin and I were able to talk for about an hour about common themes in our lives as fathers, husbands, and Christians. We discussed our desire to fulfill the calling we have inherently as Christians to share our faith, but the difficulty in doing that in a sincere, genuine fashion that is not off-putting to others we come to meet, or destructive to the relationship we already have. It seems the charismatic and evangelic Christian come off as cookie-cutter and insincere with their personalities and demeanor. We are seeking an authentic faith for ourselves, and an identity that goes along with that. What comes natural? What is our true personality in Christ? What are our unique tools we have been given to be useful to God? And I believe these questions are correlated to our questions of manhood as well. What does our biological make up (genes, hormones, etc.) dictate we become? Am I living up to my full potential? Am I doing what I want or designed to do? What am I doing to get in my own way of fulfilling my destiny? Or is all of this leading me to my destiny? Mind Blown!
I don't think either of us really doubt who we are called to be, or really concerned with what the future holds. I think more so we are excited about the possibilities, because we have a faith that tells us our God has plans to prosper, not be harmed and that He takes care of the birds and provides for them, and that we are greater than the birds. It was just a good time to learn from each other about how we are doing our best to not get in our own way. We are learning to put aside the doubts in our head about how people will judge us if our character becomes more righteous or we put away the foolish acts of our past.
We are also aiming to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing in life. We both feel that social media has contributed to, if not is the cause of, the decline of our society. We no longer express true emotions, because they are captured in an "emoji" for us and we never actually interact with each other. This statement is obviously overstated at this moment, but that is because this is the way we are trending. We send texts to each other instead of making phone calls. It used to be a text message was like a memo to someone. Nothing that necessitated a full conversation, something like "don't forget the milk at the store." Now we don't make calls, because we are too absorbed in scrolling through posts on (insert your choice of social media) to stop what we are doing to have a genuine conversation. We don't want to interrupt others doing the same thing we are, and don't want them interrupting us. So we ignore calls only to respond to the text from the same person texting in 2 seconds after the call has gone to voicemail. The generations coming up are going to wish they could recognize their grandparent's handwriting, or recall the sound of a loved one's voice after they have passed, or even be excited when they hear it on the phone after a long week of needing that comforting tone. We are missing the biological need of community, interaction, love, compassion, shared experiences, experiences period! Everything is virtual and nothing is actual. We are trying to digitally replicate everything in real life that at some point, we will run out of people on this planet who have actually experienced the experience. (steps off soap box)
We are first called to love God, the one who created us. Then we are called to love our neighbor. We can not do this if we are glued to our phones or computers. Our society is becoming more and more near-sighted literally and figuratively because of this. We are spending hours a day concentrating on screens that are within 3 feet of our faces through video games, television, computers and cell phones/tablets. We are so focused on instant gratification, constant progress, and what have you done for me lately. We seek validation from others subconsciously in the form of a "like" and compare ourselves to the trash that is promoted as "reality TV" that is not relatable at all. Live authentic, find your truth, and be present. I'm fortunate enough to have friends and family that agree and make my life and heart more full through the relationships I have with them. I hope you find the same.
-Jerry
As we sat on the central lawn of Seaside eating our lunch, we noticed how everyone was enjoying this quaint town and what it provided. It was almost like the Truman show movie that was filmed here never left. Kids were riding bikes without helmets, making friends with other children they had just met, sharing, and parents were introducing themselves and being PRESENT! There probably 100 people sitting around this lawn and not a single one was on their phone! Not even to take a picture! I didn't take a picture, because I felt like that would ruin the moment as well. The nice part about not taking one, is the inclination to go back and make it happen again or make that moment happen everywhere in life.
Saturday night we had a brown sugar-soy glazed salmon that I baked, along with wild rice, and a fresh salad. We sat around the kitchen table and just talked until the kids began to whine and we shifted to our bedtime rituals. Our combined three children bathed in the tub together (all girls under the age of 4) and then proceeded to get dressed, fed, and wound down. The moms went to bed around 9:00pm to lay with the girls, comforting them to sleep.
This allowed for some good bonding time with myself and my friend Justin, of almost 10 years. We are both in similar stages of life, although we are a few years apart in age and duration of marriage. He has two children, I have one. He has been married for almost 6 years, and I have been married for almost 4. But we are both men who are Christians seeking a revival of our faith, in addition to a revival of society. I guess both of these ideas coincide. As I analyze all of this more and more, I'm beginning to think it is a "1/3 Life Crisis." But in reality, I would say that we are both aware that our lives are no longer about us. We are captains of our families and we are looked to as leaders, pillars, directors, whatever you want to call it. This demands that we know who we are, that we are consistent in that identity, and that requires that we are principled people that are not having our emotions or personalities swaying with the changes of the wind.
Justin and I were able to talk for about an hour about common themes in our lives as fathers, husbands, and Christians. We discussed our desire to fulfill the calling we have inherently as Christians to share our faith, but the difficulty in doing that in a sincere, genuine fashion that is not off-putting to others we come to meet, or destructive to the relationship we already have. It seems the charismatic and evangelic Christian come off as cookie-cutter and insincere with their personalities and demeanor. We are seeking an authentic faith for ourselves, and an identity that goes along with that. What comes natural? What is our true personality in Christ? What are our unique tools we have been given to be useful to God? And I believe these questions are correlated to our questions of manhood as well. What does our biological make up (genes, hormones, etc.) dictate we become? Am I living up to my full potential? Am I doing what I want or designed to do? What am I doing to get in my own way of fulfilling my destiny? Or is all of this leading me to my destiny? Mind Blown!
I don't think either of us really doubt who we are called to be, or really concerned with what the future holds. I think more so we are excited about the possibilities, because we have a faith that tells us our God has plans to prosper, not be harmed and that He takes care of the birds and provides for them, and that we are greater than the birds. It was just a good time to learn from each other about how we are doing our best to not get in our own way. We are learning to put aside the doubts in our head about how people will judge us if our character becomes more righteous or we put away the foolish acts of our past.
We are also aiming to keep the Main Thing the Main Thing in life. We both feel that social media has contributed to, if not is the cause of, the decline of our society. We no longer express true emotions, because they are captured in an "emoji" for us and we never actually interact with each other. This statement is obviously overstated at this moment, but that is because this is the way we are trending. We send texts to each other instead of making phone calls. It used to be a text message was like a memo to someone. Nothing that necessitated a full conversation, something like "don't forget the milk at the store." Now we don't make calls, because we are too absorbed in scrolling through posts on (insert your choice of social media) to stop what we are doing to have a genuine conversation. We don't want to interrupt others doing the same thing we are, and don't want them interrupting us. So we ignore calls only to respond to the text from the same person texting in 2 seconds after the call has gone to voicemail. The generations coming up are going to wish they could recognize their grandparent's handwriting, or recall the sound of a loved one's voice after they have passed, or even be excited when they hear it on the phone after a long week of needing that comforting tone. We are missing the biological need of community, interaction, love, compassion, shared experiences, experiences period! Everything is virtual and nothing is actual. We are trying to digitally replicate everything in real life that at some point, we will run out of people on this planet who have actually experienced the experience. (steps off soap box)
We are first called to love God, the one who created us. Then we are called to love our neighbor. We can not do this if we are glued to our phones or computers. Our society is becoming more and more near-sighted literally and figuratively because of this. We are spending hours a day concentrating on screens that are within 3 feet of our faces through video games, television, computers and cell phones/tablets. We are so focused on instant gratification, constant progress, and what have you done for me lately. We seek validation from others subconsciously in the form of a "like" and compare ourselves to the trash that is promoted as "reality TV" that is not relatable at all. Live authentic, find your truth, and be present. I'm fortunate enough to have friends and family that agree and make my life and heart more full through the relationships I have with them. I hope you find the same.
-Jerry
Comments
Post a Comment