I don't need more "truth machines."

If you've read my crazy mess of a blog for more than 4 minutes, you know I have a kindred spirit (who doesn't know me at all and doesn't know I stalked her around corners at a writers conference) named Emily Freeman. Last week she wrote this in her newsletter, and I have been thinking about it ever since. I knew I had to post it here to make an easy place for me to find it again.

"I will write as a kind companion rather than a truth machine.

As I wrote, I wanted to pay attention to the ways I might be prioritizing lessons and learning over listening and being with.

As much as I'm weary of my tendency to see God only as my teacher, I'm also weary of reading posts/articles/books from writers who talk as if they are robots with an agenda.

Did I say that out loud?

I want to be mindful of writing as a human person, a kind companion, a co-learner and co-listener, a journeyer.

[…] even though we are sometimes guilty of turning the stunning, freeing, living work of the Gospel into a handbook of how-tos, we are a generation of people who long for connection with one another and with Jesus.  
And also, we're kind of exhausted."

Oh, thank you, Emily. Yes. One of the things driving me batty about Facebook for the last year, one of the things that led me to create some distance from Facebook during Christmas, is the constant posting of well-meaning and sometimes excellent articles. I do it too. I want to share what I love. We all do. But what the resulting newsfeed creates in me is:

1) a sense of needing to read everything that looks noteworthy
2) brain clutter
3) feeling like I'll never catch up
4) a sense of being in a constant classroom

In other words, my desire to learn becomes a major drag. At one point last year I looked up from my screen and said, "What has any of this [reading articles] done to actually change my life?"

So I started evaluating. What do I read online that actually makes a difference? I will read things like that and only things like that.

It's made a gigantic difference in my mental wellbeing. It takes discipline - for sure. But it is worth it.