Friday, December 12, 2014

Lift Up Your Face and Live Life


I love my iPhone and it's probably fair to say I may be somewhat, slightly addicted to my iPad. (To say nothing of the music on my iPod!) But lately I've noticed a trend that is heartbreaking and a bit disturbing.

Every Monday night my husband I go to Culver's for dinner. We always marvel at the people who use their devices while eating. The majority of the time it's within a family at the table.

We've seen old couples where one is playing on a phone. We've seen girlfriends in their early 20s sitting together, each texting. (Each other?!) But what really breaks my heart is when I see a family where usually the dad is using his device while the mom and kids eat.

Worse yet is the dad and sons in the picture above.

We watched as the three of them ate their entire meal without making eye contact or conversation with each other. They hardly removed their eyes from their screen long enough to even look at the next bite.

My comment to my husband was that one day he'll finally look up and his boys will be waving goodbye as they go off to college.

A few months ago while eating at Panera I saw a mom with her two daughters. The mom had her back to me and I could see she was playing games on her phone while her two daughters, maybe 9 - 11-year-old range, sat across from her quietly eating.

We need to get our faces out of our screens and live life!

There is so much around us to enjoy and experience: relationships to be had, nature to observe, colors to be seen, textures to be felt, birds to hear sing, food to taste, flowers and coffee to smell. But we're missing that by having our face glued to a glowing screen.

Make it a rule that there will be no devices at mealtime. Whatever you need to do on your phone can wait 30 minutes while you eat and engage with the people at your table, whether little people or big people, or even if you're eating by yourself.

Put down your device and take a walk and notice nature: snow, leaves, rain, sunshine, birds, dogs, whatever - notice it!

Eat outside and watch the squirrels play in the trees, look at the blue sky, enjoy the breeze.

There is certainly a time and a place for all of this wonderful technology we have, but please, make family time a priority and turn off the device! Nothing is that important.
Psalm 3:3
But You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.
Do you think this will be hard or easy for you to do?

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