Loved ones in a storm or other remote environment get separated from the rest of us, unable to touch base and communicate in real time. We aren’t used to it anymore…in this modern era we are used to being able to reach and touch whenever we please. And yet staying mindful of those apart has a long tradition expression in prayer, in letter writing, and in song.
Oddly, more connection could lead to less lasting art. If we don’t long because we are constantly richly connected, we have no reason to express our separation in an art form with full context. We tend to assume context and abbreviate, and our record becomes inaccessible later. More pictures taken does not lead to more pictures viewed. More texts sent doesn’t lead to texts worth reading fifty years later. More connection may in fact make our lives more ephemeral, more like they were before we had the written word and the ability to store it.
We complain of the decades of records and letters that destroyed our ability to see vast sections of a life like Roger Williams, and yet will our own record be as complete as his? He has seven volumes of written works written in complete sentences with context explained available now, several hundred years later.
Historically, a deep separation often occurred at sea facing a storm, with loved ones unreachable and survival uncertain. Some, like William Wilberforce, turned to God for the first time in such a crisis. Does more constant connection delay or dull the longing to find God?
We believe we have documented our lives in more detail than ever before. But will that record be accessible? Electronic formats evolve and change and old formats are quickly unreadable without a transition effort. Will pictures on a phone be gone before pictures printed on paper?
There is one separation we will all encounter that is not bridged with technology: death. Sooner or later we will encounter it and face a loss of connection. Will we be less prepared given habitual connectedness, experiencing grief more deeply? Do practice separations prepare us to survive certain but eventual loss? If we’ve had separations that caused us to find God, will our faith be strong enough to sustain the loss? Certainly, even if we know Christ well, we still grieve. However, it is a grief with hope that can sustain and speed recovery, if we are willing to cling to it.
Photo of William Wilberforce from a painting by Karl Anton created in 1794.
Originally published on Medium in We are all Overcomers.
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