Los Angeles is consuming. During the time that I have come to call this city my home, I have been introduced to many new seasons of life, amidst unique circumstances and opportunities that are unique to this place alone. As stimulating and life-changing as my time here has been, I realize that something subtle and yet important has been lost. Lost & swallowed up in the endless activities and buzz of the city, trending restaurants, vibrant music scenes, and the friends sprinkled throughout suburbs of the city.
In some ways I have lost the art of being still, and I think our society has too. Oh we can sit quietly and twiddle our thumbs maneuvering around iPhone apps, texts and updates, but how often is our world silent and detached from unnecessary clutter?
One of my primary inspirations behind these thoughts, Kinfolk Magazine, puts it this way in one of my favorite literary pieces called UNDOCUMENTED HOURS –
"The past few years have levied a strange burden of proof upon our backs, a burden to account for our hours and days, to prove to all who care to watch from the screens of their phones and computers that we are doing something worthy with our lives. In the meantime, we have forgotten how to be content in being present. We have not been transfixed and emptied since we first believed the lie that all of our experiences must be shared."
More than ever before, I can see the beauty of experiencing moments without the click of a shutter or the recognition of others. I have been reveling in the joys that God allows me to partake in each and every minute of this life, and I am content to be fully in the moment He has given me now.
Not to be found in the bustle of city life but in the simple familiarity of that cafe you frequent with an old friend & the gentle light of a lone, flickering candle, is the peace and quiet that we are called to preserve and seek after. Take a deep breath, unplug from your electronic lifeline and plunge headfirst into the community that is surrounding you.
I leave you with one last line from Kinfolk Mag –
“A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other's lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedoms with which they come and go among themselves."
