If you’re like me, you hop on the computer “real quick” to do something specific, and end up spending an hour doing who-knows-what and forgetting what you came for in the first place. And I don’t know about you, but those kinds of detours always leave me feeling yucky…robbed…and sort of like I just got sucked into another world. A world where things aren’t real.
Before I go much further, I am going to invite you to do something I know might sound a little weird coming from someone who’s writing a blog post, but I mean it from the bottom of my heart and if you do it I will be absolutely thrilled.
I am going to invite you to turn off the computer.
Turn off your phone.
Turn off your tablet.
And look up.
Look around and see that life cannot be found on screens…not television screens, not computers or phones or tablets. Those things seem to have taken over my life and my family’s. The thing is, unless we’re really careful about what we allow to happen on those screens and we really limit our time with them, we will miss the real life that is happening just beyond them.
What’s happening beyond your screen right now?
Today in Nampa, Idaho the sky is blue and the breeze is gentle. The grass is green and lush and the trees are dancing with it. Our chickens are pecking away looking for bugs, and our rabbits are all stretched out trying to stay cool. There’s life out there.
Inside my kids are giggling with each other and wrestling.
There are a few dishes in the sink and lots of laundry to do from the trip we took this weekend. There are bathrooms to clean and a fridge to purge. The garage could use some straightening. More chores than I could possibly name, but there is life there, too. The real kind. The kind that leaves you feeling happy and satisfied once you’ve given them the attention they deserve.
That kind of happiness can’t be found anywhere else, and certainly not in a screen.
There are adventures to be had, bird-songs to be heard, people to be loved, tender words to be spoken, eyes to be looked into, flowers to be seen, breezes to be felt, meals to be cooked, art to be made, and even laundry to be done. And in those things we will find all the life we are looking for.
So let’s turn off our screens, look up and find the life that is waiting for us.
xoxo
Kallie
And it doesn’t get any less important to turn the screens off as the children grow older!
I took a step back from my blog a year and a half ago and I have lost the motivation to return….. Great post!
Still on “Lighter and Lighter”. 54 days I think and I am not missing any of it!! (Yes- I’m amazed!!)
What a great post.. thank you for the sweet reminder.. <3
I’m dong it! Thank you – Here I come life and freedom!
Just what I needed today.
Thank you for writing this! I struggle with this daily!