spiritual emptiness is one of the greatest problems facing all of our faith traditions today. With the never ending involvement of electronics in our lives - early and early in today's world; we are always connected and always have the "answers" one touch away. And so, we are left, not knowing how to listen the voice of the Holy and worse, not willing to always give into God's time.
My husband is a good example, he really didn't want a data phone because he thought that they were not needed but in an attempt to be more organized, he eventually broke down to get the phone. Now he uses data to an extreme (luckily we have unlimited). Not only is he always looking things up on his data phone but he often turns to his phone when he is bored to kill time.
Now, I am not saying that he is spiritually empty by any means, but he is an example of just how much the technology we have access to can not only infect our lives but it can take away from us the valuable time we need to communion with our own thoughts and to truly listen to God. With the sounds and images that otherwise come our way, we all need to activity take some time in our lives to sit back and shut it all out.
As a mother of a young two year old, we have chosen to not only limit the TV but also sound in general. Our little girl loves music, but I purposefully leave no electronics in her play room and although will play music for her during the day, don't give her constant background noise. I find that she sings to herself or plays with one of her musical toys. But playing in the quiet gives her time to be with her own thoughts, her own imagination an most importantly gives her a chance to develop Spiritual discipline early - cause children need that too!
As our lives become more convenient, we need to remember to look beyond what is planted in front of us and what the Holy might be trying to tell us.
