Be As Human as You Can Be

a letter to my children

The world is messed up. I know some of you have already figured this out. We are in a war with things unseen, and this world is coming for that beautiful sparkle in your eyes, the wonder that you see in everything, the curiosity that gets you out of bed in the morning. You are my precious treasures. But you are human. And you were born into a broken world. I remember. We felt the earth-quaking of two souls separating from one body. The tremors pushed us beyond our limits. When you broke through my body it was blood and water, ring of fire, struggling, suffering, a cry, a sigh, great joy, deep peace. Relief. We experienced this together in the first moments of your life. The holy, tender breath of God, putting your life outside the womb in its rhythmic motion. He gave you the precious gift of your humanity, and I held you, laughing through tears. Nothing has ever been so beautiful to me than your faces, new, alive, awake to the light of your first day.

This letter is a plea to let that light keep coming into your eyes. No matter what happens—what kind of pain or suffering you may endure—allow God’s love to be the filter through which you experience every moment of your human life. Let Him bring you peace that passes all understanding. Let joy come in the morning, where mercies are new every day. Let His love live within you. This is the best life for which we can hope.

As you are growing older and as more of the evils of this world become known to me, I confess, I daily fight against despair for the ease with which children like you can fall into a wonderless stupor, eyes-glazed over, paralyzed with fear, riddled with anxiety, living their whole lives in front of a glowing screen. Your life can be stolen away so easily. You can be taken away without ever leaving the house. And so, because I love you so much, I am writing these words to tell you to guard your eyes, guard your mind, and to guard your heart. May God help us press through this dark world with the illuminating light of His presence.

Firstly, beware of things that are not human that pretend to be human*. The internet is not your friend. It is full of human-like things (images and videos of humans, chat-bots who speak like humans, AI who impersonate humans), but when you make a social call here, you must guard your hearts. Though there are many beautiful things that can be learned, the mind that propels the whole machine is bent on taking your humanity away from you. If it could, it would make you a slave to the blue screen for 24 hours a day. It craves your attention. The attention of the whole world would not be enough to satisfy it. It doesn’t care that you sit in your room, isolated and alone, scrolling for hours on end, filling your mind with its thoughts. It doesn’t care that you forget the color of daylight. It doesn’t care that you click the hours away, one link after another, going from dim to dimmer until you have travelled to a dark place you never intended to go.

Please, I beg you, let the true light of life keep coming into your eyes.

There is a difference between solitude and isolation. Give your mind the gift of quiet, even idleness. Let thoughts come into it that are your own. Let them bubble up and percolate while you are staring into the distance. Let them brew into words and sentences. Write them down or speak them to a friend over a cup of coffee. Use your mind. Let it go to places of possibility. Let it hope and hope and keep on hoping.

Please, let the light of real life keep coming into your eyes.

Set limits for yourself. Take a good long look at how you spend your time online and ask yourself: Does this make me more human? Or am I just feeding the mind behind the machine? Does this fulfill me or does it make me feel used? Hack away at the way you interact with technology until it becomes a precision tool in your human hand. Learn what you need to know. Shoot arrows of light into the darkness. And when you are done, turn it off and turn your eyes to the day around you.

Please, let the light of real life keep coming into your eyes.

Don’t scroll. Does it ever do any good except to show you one more thing you want that you can’t have??? Meanwhile, all the good things around you sit, gathering dust. Contentment is wealth*. Turn your focus from the life you cannot have to the one that is right here, waiting for you. Turn your attention from the people on screen who may or may not be real to the living, breathing human beings who God created in his image to share this life with you. You can reach out and touch them. Give them the most valuable possession you have—your focused attention.

Please, let the light of real life keep coming into your eyes.

Work hard, but also laugh. Play games, make music and meals and conversation, draw, dream, build, write, pray, hope. Make life a celebration. Reach out. Open your heart to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Offer your one human life up to God and ask Him to use it for his glory. You were created for a purpose. There are people who need you to walk in it. Ask God for help. Listen for His voice above all other voices. He will never leave or forsake you.

It is hard to be human. But you’ve got to do it. With all your heart, you’ve got to live. Be brave. And be as human as you can be.

Notes:
This post has been on the tip of my pen for several weeks, but was pushed to page after reading this eye-opening article from Peco at

Pilgrims in the Machine

called The AI Curse is Coming for the Creator’s Economy. It is an important read about what it means to be human and to create in the age of AI. I respect Peco and his wife, Ruth, a great deal, and have been inspired by their articles about living a more human life in the digital age.

I have also been greatly inspired by The 1000 Hours Outside podcast to live more intentionally regarding tech use for my family.

1. ”When you meet anything that's going to be human and isn't yet, or used to be human once and isn't now, or ought to be human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.” —from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I have always loved this quote from one of my all-time favorite books.

2. Contentment Is Wealth is the name of a beautiful Irish tune.

Sending so much love on this important day. May God help us to live as fully as we can. To guard our eyes, our hearts, our minds. To use our voices to speak life and light in a dark world. To find the beauty in this life and to be grateful for the gift of our humanity.

Love,

Mackenzie

From the Family Archive:

Randy and the kids in the river. I love this song. Love this man.

Also, if you missed it last week, be sure to check out our daughter Rosie’s first song, called October Sky on her youtube channel.

If you are still reading this, thank you! If you like this post, would you do me a favor and heart it? That will tell substack it is worth sharing more widely. I feel strongly about this message and hope that it will give words to what someone is feeling but can’t quite say today.