The age decade old question: CAPTURE or LIVE IN the moment
Do I enjoy the moment by being in the moment
or do I whip out my iPhone and capture this glorious goodness for later!!
Will I choose to be fully present, active, listening, or whatever—- essentially not multitasking or do I capture this moment so I can share it with the world??
Ahh the struggles of today’s generation lol.
No really though, all of you reading this you have likely had this battle in your head with the ease of media today — so you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Whether it’s a moment at a concert where you are waiting for the first song and think “man I really don’t want to have my phone in my hand and want to be free to jump around and fully enjoy this”—-followed immediately by — “but I really want to share this later” or “but I want to capture this because later in life i’ll really appreciate it“
Or it’s when your baby (in my case the 4-legged one) doing something new or fantastic that makes you grin ear to ear and you have to decide whether to find your camera quickly or ingrain the moment in your memory as your sole point of reference to the joyous occasion.
Or in my case today, fully do the job at hand –volunteering —or take time outs to capture moments of progress for the world to see?
I start by sharing how blessed I am to have a home church here in Atlanta that has a large singles program (which makes sense considering our city has been ranked one of the best cities for singles to live in–to which I always roll my eyes in disbelief) That said, the program, do.justice program had over 1100 singles gather today each in separate groups to go help on different projects throughout our community.
My outdoorsy side choose a location close to my home that was cleaning up brush and building garden space in an overgrown wooded area as my alternative to being poolside on this gorgeous sunny Saturday —however my sinus side clearly was forgotten about when making this decision 😳. Anyone who hasn’t been to Georgia has no idea what we deal with in the pollen department —I’m talking in the rays of sunlight it looks like it’s snowing as we gather and move this brush.
So not realizing I was gonna have this “do I or don’t I” battle in my head I drop my stuff in a safe area but throw my cell in my sports bra for quick access to “document” anything that might tickle my fancy. Myself and about 150 other singles divide up, grab gloves (so graciously provided for us), and head over to pick up what mostly looks like things that Huck from Scandal would have laying around and head to areas of wilderness they call a “park”, that clearly no man has stepped in in quite some time.
So it’s safe to say about 85% of us have no idea what these big tools are, and the other 15% of us, myself included here, haven’t used any of these items since we were like 12 years old and got caught in a lie and sentenced to yard work. Shovels, rakes, snippers, saws……I mean no I don’t want to pick up those rocks while you snip a foot away from my hands 😩. None the less we put our big boy pants on and do the job at hand knowing God is glorified by us serving the community today and praying he protects us from well —ourselves— lol and any snakes or scary things hiding under dead trees and leaves.
As we start to get rolling at a nice pace….you rake, I’ll gather it up, hand it off to her, he’ll drag it to the tarp, they will haul it to dump etc…. I think ooh I didn’t capture the before picture and instantly want to stop what I’m doing and get the wilderness to be tamed in it’s “before” look. Then thinking in picture sequence, I want to be able to show a story of today so I want to get people working and the stages of cleaning as these big hearted folks transform this mess into an enjoyable park area.
So here’s the dilemma….as I start to take a few pictures I realize the little voice of legalism inside my head saying, “you are going to look shallow for taking pictures instead of working” and, “they are going to judge you” for XYZ reasons.
Then quickly I was rescued by a familiar scripture where Jesus instructs,
13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
And I was reminded why I choose to capture my world to share even if I risk people thinking I’m doing it for the wrong reasons or I lose a few minutes of productivity. I know my heart and the reason I chose to capture moments and share them–and more importantly God knows my heart.
Jesus said we are on this earth to share the gospel—to be a light to those around us. A light is not hidden but a light that is meant to shine as bright and far as possible! And as a Christian, one who was mediocre in my faith through many years of my life, not only do i know the power of social media and the exposure and influence our generation has through social media–but I also know how important it is to share what it looks like to truly try to be living as God commands us—-both in speech and in action — and serving being a big part of that! Now please know, i mentioned TRY, as this is a daily choice to make and strive to do what is right and often I do not get it right. But to me, taking a few minutes to capture these amazing people all serving The Lord so that I can show anyone and everyone what a heart living for The Lord looks like—to shine their LIGHT unto others—-that’s a moment worth capturing for sure!!
And the devil will not get a foothold of me with what others may or may not be thinking. The end result is others seeing the body of Christ; a church at work; fellowship of Christians; people who do.justice and are being a light—-and that is amazing!!
So do you capture the moment or live in the moment—I guess it depends on the motivation for doing it. Ask yourself am I wanting to share this for The Lord or am I trying to glorify my self in some way by sharing this?
If the answer is for the Lord—then shine that light and don’t let anyone or, your own thoughts wrestling with the devil on your shoulder, change how God is allowing you to share the gospel in this generation.
If the answer is one that points inwardly– be honest– and be in prayer with God about changing your heart and adding some more humility.
The end result might look the same, but motivation always seeps out and Christ can best use those who put Him first instead of personal gains. I sit here thankful today that after months of prayer a while back about being more about him and less about me, that God has changed my heart so much and allowed my motivation, in many aspects of my life, to be more about Him and less about me—-unless i get a new pair of shoes..uh ohhhh….. then I gotta show them off :)…. afterall God gave the brains to earn the money to buy them and to find the sale i likely got them from bahaaaaaa. Ok see, I still have quite some growth to do. Have a blessed week everyone!
Thanks to all who served and spend hours on their Saturday helping in the community!!
The "F" word 