麻豆社

Earlier this week, nearly 19 thousand basketball fans watched LeBron James become the NBA鈥檚 all-time leading scorer. And large numbers of those fans captured the historic moment on their smart phones. It鈥檚 a predictable sight these days; every major event is closely monitored by a wall of phone screens held aloft, recording every last detail, soon to be uploaded to social media as proof that we were there. Or, perhaps as is often the case, saved to the phone to lurk, unseen and unwatched with all the thousands of other images that were taken, just on the off-chance that we miss anything.

It's a habit that鈥檚 not just reserved for momentous occasions. My equivalent sporting event excitement happened last summer when my 9 year old was approaching the finish line in the bouncy hopper race, viewed through my mobile phone of course. If you don鈥檛 record it, did it even happen? He won, by the way, or at least, that鈥檚 what the footage I recorded tells me.

Reaching for my phone is almost a reflex action, driven by the fear that if I don鈥檛 capture it on camera then maybe I鈥檒l forget. It鈥檚 an attempt to exert some kind of control over time, but it鈥檚 as futile as willing the sand in an hourglass to cease sinking. The moment is gone, whether I鈥檝e captured it digitally or not, and all I鈥檓 left with is a memory distorted by having experienced that moment through the screen of a phone.

In the 13th century, when St Clare of Assisi was alive, mirrors were still a fairly unique curiosity. She writes about using the mirror as a mystical tool to see beyond her own image and ego to discover who Christ really wants her to be. Our smartphones are often used as digital mirrors which reflect what we want others to see. Look at this great concert I鈥檓 at! Look at this amazing food I鈥檓 eating! Look how much fun I鈥檓 having! They often reflect back our own egos.

Clare鈥檚 spirituality was characterised by humility, simplicity and joy. With this in mind, I resisted the urge to take my phone with me on my morning walk. Instead, when I saw a beautiful swathe of snowdrops peeking out of the frozen ground, I took that to be God鈥檚 permission slip to live in the moment. Maybe it was God鈥檚 way of saying 鈥淟ook! See what I have made. Let鈥檚 look at it together.鈥�

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