Friday, February 1, 2019

Priorities



I hope you all had a wonderful week! This week in America we had record breaking low temperatures. We live in a country where despite the freezing temperatures we don’t have to worry about whether or not we will survive during the night. With one button we can increase the heat, pile on a few extra blankets, and go to sleep toasty warm. However in some parts of the world, human beings just like you and me are doing everything they can to survive. Many of my friends and family know that I’m not a big fan of social media; I rarely post and periodically I will shut it down and not bother. One reason in particular: priorities. I think to myself, here I am posing a selfie and there are people out there with real needs, fighting for their lives. Do you think the person above is concerned about posting a picture with a cliche quote just to receive a few likes and comments from people he doesn’t even know? I do feel that social media can be used in a positive way to impact people’s lives, and I commend people that use it for that purpose, but most of the images and videos I see on my feed don’t show that. Although you may not realize it, you are subconsciously filtering those images, words, lyrics, memes, videos, and quotes into your spirit. I honestly feel most at peace and in sync with myself and God when I don’t use it. When I’m old and wrinkly (oh gosh), I don’t want to look back on my life and see that I lived a life just to post pictures to prove an irrelevant unspoken point. There are people hurting and suffering. I want to look back over my life and smile because I helped them, those that needed it the most. I want to smile because I provided a warm meal to someone starving. I want to look back and smile because I gave clothes and properly fitted shoes to a shivering boy in need. I want to look back and smile because I helped set up water wells so that impoverished countries are not affected by cholera and E. coil outbreaks. I want to look back and smile because I provided medical care to an ailing person who had lost all hope. I feel fortunate to live in America where just about everything is at your fingertips. However, I want to help those that don’t have. The saying really does hold true, “don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life”. What mark will you leave? What impact (big or small) will you make? Or will you just leave behind a digital record of “good times”? Instead of talking about your hustle, your grind, your come up, how are others benefiting because of it? I wish to serve to the best of my capacity with the time that I have; that’s my priority. What’s yours?