weeds grow up
1985 was a banner year: "Back to The Future" premiered on screens, the "Live Aid" concerts raised millions for famine relief, and AOL was launched, telling us, "You've Got Mail!"
The same was true for 2007 - the "Harry Potter" book series concluded, early signs of a mortgage crisis would lead to the Great Recession, and Apple released its first iPhone.
Who would have known that email and smartphones would take over the world and our lives? Studies have shown that, since these years, anxiety and depression, particularly among the young, have skyrocketed, largely due to electronic inventions. Though there has been much good seen in this technological revolution, no one could have predicted that these seemingly small things - internet communication and devices to capture it - would be like the weeds in the garden of culture and in God's Garden of the soul.
In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus says that some of the Seed of God's Word fell among the weeds, which grew up and choked those who were growing up in The Lord. That's what weeds do: they don't stay small or in place; they are invasive, occupying every open space horizontally and vertically, stealing the nutrients needed for the farmer's crop. You can't simply trim them: they need to be uprooted. And so the weeds of social media and scrolling may seem small and innocuous, but they have a way of growing up and out, invading our hearts, minds, and souls, capturing the energy and focus needed to grow up strong in The Lord.
Summertime is a good season for weeding one's garden, both the outside and the inside kind. Let's ask God to show us which of our technological pursuits needs to be ripped out at the roots, so that we can create open space for hearing and doing The Word of God, such that we will yield an abundant crop for our Master, Who will use it to feed those around us.