When I was young, zoom was word we used to describe going fast. Did you see that car zoom by us? Zoom was a great Scrabble word when the “Z” was on the triple letter square. Then zoom became associated with camera lenses with close-up pictures.
I never imagined a day when zoom would be a preferred way of communicating, doing church, doing business, doing counseling, doing health care, doing graduation and birthday parties. I never dreamed that there would be a day when masked people freak out in a store because you stopped to notice them, zoom in, or try to talk with them. It feels like the more you try to zoom in on people, the more they zoom out. Instead of people becoming more loving and connected, we’re becoming more like zombies. If you don’t mask-up in your dead-wear, people look at you like you have leprosy or like you’re going to kill em’.
What makes me sad and mad is the terror and trauma that’s been perpetrated upon our society, resulting in the belief that human beings and human contact is bad and dangerous. Long before this crisis, the medical research linked many physical disorders with loneliness and hopelessness. Imagine how much sicker we’re becoming the longer we stay away from one another. It’s incredibly dangerous to our mental, relational, emotional, and spiritual health if we stay away from people and become focused on what’s wrong with you, me, or us.
Rather than zooming in on what’s wrong, I’ve seized the opportunity to zoom with people and share life. I’ve had some amazing connecting times zooming with incredible people through zoom. I’ve had great God-encounters with people while zooming. I’ve been able to pray with people and groups through zoom. And when people get tired of zooming in on what’s wrong with the world, we’ve come together and laughed our hearts out.
Zooming is another word for focusing our attention. The more we focus, the more we notice. The more time we spend listening the more we hear. The more we focus on hearing and lingering together, the more we can feel known and loved. The more we make time and focus our attention on others, the less time we spend worrying about what’s wrong and the bad things that are happening. The more we focus on the good the more we find. When you focus on the good in one another the more people want to be around you.
Zooming with God is incredible. You can learn to look for God anywhere and everywhere and find Him. The longer that I search for God in nature and in people, the more I find Him. The more I focus and meditate and digest and apply God’s Word, the more His Words become my words and His Ways become my ways of thinking, praying, reacting, relating, and deciding.
It’s hard to zoom in and remain focused on God when I’m focused on or desire something else. If I’m distracted, preoccupied, or in a hurry, I don’t connect well with God, with myself, or with people. I have to empty myself of all of my competitors who want my constant attention. As the psalmist wrote, I have learned to quiet myself as a baby does with his mother. How can I get to the place where all I want is to be with God and receive all that He wants to say and to give me so that I can share it with you? All of our latest forms of technology have dulled our ability to zoom in and be mentally and emotionally present for any period of time. I wonder how this makes God and the people around us feel. I wonder how it makes you feel as you’re reading this blog.
The time and attention that God gives you each day are gifts to open and invest. If you have been focusing on something that disturbs you, change your lens. Zoom in on life-giving words and ways as you spend time today with your life-giving God. Here’s a prompt from Psalm 49:9 to get you started:
“O God, we meditate on your unfailing love…”