They Didn’t Need Anything From Me
When the mask has been on so long it feels like a face
We’re not meant to be captured inside of ourselves. We were made to interact, to share, to actually be with people. But so much around us pushes the other way — nudges us toward being alone.
Technology especially. It hands us endless ways to spend hours by ourselves and call it connection. Voice and video messaging, online games, online shopping, online dating. And yeah, my soul craves connection — but this feels like the perfect setup for the cheap substitutes to move in. Lust instead of love. The counterfeit that looks close enough.
Last night I watched YouTube videos for an hour instead of reaching out to my son. Told myself I’d catch him another time. Truth is the videos were easier — they didn’t need anything from me. And that’s the scary part: some part of me likes it this way. Safe. In control. No one reaching in, no one asking anything of me.
But that’s not connection. That’s just the hiding dressed up to look like it. I think we all carry this need to give parts of ourselves away — our time, our energy, what we’re good at, our love — and the tech we hide behind keeps handing us a taste instead. Just enough to keep us there. Never enough to become what we were made for.
Lord, help me put the phone down and show up for the people You’ve placed in my life today. Help me give something away that costs me — my time, my attention, the parts of me I’d rather keep safe. Amen.