This Morning On My Lawn

there were 2000 people shouting at me

A strange thing happened to me this morning. I saw it was going to be a beautiful day, so I put on my shoes and a light sweater, and I opened the front door to take a walk.

To my surprise, when I walked outside, there were 2000 people standing in my front yard. They were all yelling at me, each person trying to be heard above the other voices. Some were selling things—new clothes, new houses, cheap vacations. There were people holding up photographs for me to see of birthday parties and beach trips, someone showing me a picture of last night’s lasagne. Someone tried to talk me into online dating, even though I am happily married. There were men and women taking off their clothes, contorting their bodies in shapes I think they thought were attractive, trying to grab my attention so they could sell me the product in their hands. There were people yelling at each other about politics and religion, urging me to take a side. There were news headlines that wanted to burn themselves into my anxious imagination. There were people showing haunting, graphic videos of people in other places being slaughtered. There were voices of anger, hate, fear. They were all shouting at me, demanding me to stop, to postpone my walk, to sit down and give them my time and attention.

What did I do?

Well, I didn’t sit on the front porch for a couple of hours and let each person have their short say. And I certainly didn’t tell them, “Come back tomorrow, same place, same time.”

Did I???

The average person scrolls for 2 hours and 24 minutes a day on social media. When scrolling, the average user sees 10-20 posts per minute. That makes an average of 2,160 voices that are speaking into our lives every single day. 2,160 people yelling on our lawn.

This is the choice that is before us every single day.

If we want to live a life of vision, we have to stop staring at our phones. If we want to hear the voice of God, we have to stop listening to the clamoring voices of this world that are trying to sell us something that will not satisfy us. If we want to live lives of faith, we can not linger in the places where fear drives every message. If we want to truly love the people in our real lives, we have to choose them over the never-ending stream of faces that flash before us. If we want more time to do the things that we have always wanted to do, we can have it. All we have to do is walk away from the screen and walk into whatever real, solid thing it is we want to say or do or be or make.

As a culture, we are being lulled into a stupor. We are living halfhearted lives, unfocused and impotent. There are too many voices. We must focus our lives. We have to choose to give our time and attention to the things that will move us in the direction of the life we truly desire and believe is ours for the taking. The life that stirs our souls. The life where we are seeking God, hearing his voice, tuning into the vision that only He can give.

This morning I opened the front door and a strange thing happened. I saw 2000 people shouting at me, but as I pushed through the crowd, they all disappeared.

So I took a walk and enjoyed the beautiful day.

Dear friends,

May you find some quiet today, some rest from the noise and chaos. May you move in the direction of the life you truly desire. May you look into the eyes of those you love. May you hear the voice of God above all other voices.

Love,

Mackenzie

ps.

Today’s letter was born out of a short talk that my husband, Randy, gave at our church on Sunday about living a focused life. Here is Randy singing a beautiful, intimate song he wrote about listening for the voice of God. If today’s post speaks to you, would you listen to this song and let the lyrics help you refocus your heart?

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