The beginning of devotion

Its official - I’m bad with phones. Last year, I lost/broke three phones and recently, my latest mobile was stolen. Every single time, I’ve thought, ‘what is God trying to tell me?!’

After phone loss number two, I opened one of Crystal Moody’s newsletters on creative habits and came across the quote: “Attention is the beginning of devotion” by Mary Oliver. 

Bam! Could this be my message?  

I want to need it

I do pay a lot of attention to my phone (except when I’m not...and then I’m losing it. Haha). I’m not big on chatting via typed messages (I prefer face-time) but I do love Instagram.

I need it or, as I tell my son when he says he needs something he doesn’t really need, “I want to need it.”

I love taking photos with my phone. It’s almost replaced my camera, which is sad because I have a really awesome camera.

Is it meaningful?

From a creative perspective, maybe I’ve allowed adding an Instagram filter and crop to a quick snap to fill my creative void a little too much.

Of course, it’s fun and creative in its own way, but is the process enriching and meaningful? And could time spent scrolling be better used reading, writing, drawing or just being?  Maybe.

One of my goals this year is to start writing again - for myself and not solely for work. 

So I’m spending a little less time on my phone and writing, in the little insta chunks of time being a working mom allows. It’s a new beginning.

Photo by Linda Xu on Unsplash