These days, it seems like everything in the world has an APP for your smartphone. It would not surprise me if one day we won’t even have to use the restroom facilities—there will be an APP for that! Although, at my age, I might just welcome that.
Anyway, it simply comes down to the fact that people are just too busy. I know we are getting a lot of things accomplished, but the things that really matter seem to be left undone. Have a seat while I explain some things to you young ‘uns—maybe grab a cup of coffee or your favorite flavor of tea and read along while I ramble for a few minutes. We old ladies like to ramble.
First of all, I kind of like driving ten miles below the speed limit in my 1986 Buick Skylark (Limited Edition with pleather interior and 3-tone exterior paint job) and with my turn signal flashing, just to annoy people. I mean, I am not really going anywhere important, well, at least until Sunday rolls around and I have to report for dreaded nursery duty (insert “ugh” sound here). When I think about it, I am not really in that big of a hurry to do anything, but does that have to be a bad thing? Sometimes, just slowing down and taking your time can actually allow you to take in all the beauty around you.
Okay, I am going to get crazy for the next little while. Think about it this way: what if I would have never missed the sixteenth step on my staircase (which I recently found out only has 15 steps—hindsight is 20/20). I may have never been rushed to the emergency room and likely would have never ended up in a double occupancy hospital room with a stranger while recovering from a broken hip. Now you may be thinking that I would have been better off, but actually, I may have never met hubby number three! As we healed together, we bonded, and the rest is history—well, he is history now, because he decided that he liked the young nurse more than he loved me. But that is water under the bridge now and my point is to seize every opportunity to appreciate the little things in life. Yeah, I was getting to that, I think.
Technology has done just as much harm as it has helped us to get more things done. My Jitterbug sorta-smartphone is not all that hip, but I am just thankful to be able to do the Twitter and send textual messages to the grandkids and step-grandkids, as well as the step-step-grandkids, and well…you get the idea. Anyway, my cool phone does not define me as a person, and at times I am glad that I don’t have an iPhone 11, because I might get addicted to the neat emojis or the cutting-edge nursery APP and miss the really important things in life.
Imagine that I had never changed 5,000+ diapers (and that was just last week), and failed to appreciate the little laugh of a 12 year old, or if I had never mixed up a baby bottle, the pastor may have not had a drink when he was thirsty during his three hour sermon. I could have missed some really precious moments in life. Or what if I had never found out that Walmart gives away free pacifiers to nursery workers (Oh wait, what? They don’t? You mean they only make them tax-exempt for churches? Oops!) We will forget that little error in judgment and look to the lesson at hand: the members in the business meeting may not have had a binky to pacify them during their latest frivolous argument about the new curtains (which was guaranteed to split the church)!
At the end of all the satire and sarcasm is a serious lesson.
Take time to enjoy the little things in life. Technology is a great tool, but I fear that it has become an idol. The old saying “Stop and smell the roses” has never been more needed than in our current day. Our kneejerk reaction is to just say, “I have an APP for that,” but for some things, there will never be an APP! Some things change and that is okay, but other things must not change or else we will lose our sense of purpose. We all need love; we all need to feel included; we all could benefit from slowing down a bit and enjoying the view around us rather than the 4.7 inch screen that is almost always attached to our hands. Let me just tell you now and save you some grief: there are some things that no APP in the world could ever supply!
So why not take some time to stop and smell the roses before something happens that forces you to do it. It could be a little old lady driving in front of you on the highway at 40 miles per hour; it may be a fall that incapacitates you; or it may be a technology issue that disables your smartphone for a time. But whatever the situation, use it as an opportunity to take in the beauty around you that you would have otherwise missed. Be intentional and proactive in taking time to get into God’s word and see all that he has waiting for you that you sometimes miss. In short, stop and smell the roses; not the flower APP!
- He is Faithful - October 29, 2018
- Who Is Going to Teach Them? - September 17, 2018
- The Dinosaur of R-E-S-P-E-C-T - July 23, 2018
