Worthy of making time to read. Misty’s post so resonates with my own heart. “I don’t want a soul that is an empty copy of current culture.” Misty Krasawski ✨ Repost from @mistykrasawski using @repostregramapp ✨ My #oneword2018 is “Listen.” And here’s where I’ll do most of that listening. The noise of the world clutters and confuses me, and I can afford that less and less, it seems, as time goes on. I need to simplify, to pare down to what’s necessary; to focus on things that are truly true. Social media tends to leave me frustrated for a multitude and myriad of opposing reasons; tempted to bewail the state of the church as well as the world, while at the same time looking for affirmation from the same place and people feeding my frustration. It’s a recipe for an empty life, and that’s not the way I want to live. I don’t want a soul that is an empty copy of current culture topped with cute clothes, deftly applied makeup, a well-chosen filter and a handful of pithy, spiritual sounding phrases. Not that I’ve ever been able to pull any of that off anyway, but the clamor of it is always there. And I have no interest in trying to impress anyone with how high I can climb up some ladder of “success” inevitably leaning against the wrong building. One can collect quite a pile of money and stuff without adding one iota to the beauty of one’s soul or the depth of one’s intellect. I want to dig down. My life has to find and settle into its center, its pulsing life in the Life of God. He’s given all the wide creation for my contemplation, and others have worked in paint and words, marble and steel, notes and movement to enlighten all of us to the truths they’ve found. Those are the places I want to lean close to in this new year, which means I’ve got to let this little screen have a lot less of my attention. We become what we behold. Is that a heartening thought, or a frightening one? Here’s to an expansively simplified, widely focused, deeply lived 2018. #mywordfor2018