One of the mini-struggles of mothering in the digital age is sorting, managing, and deleting gigabytes upon gigabytes of adorable kid and family videos. After all, not all ordinary moms can afford a high-powered phone capable of storing up to 1 TB of storage.
I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about, especially if you have been a mom for more than 10 years now. We have all been in the boat — receiving the prompt that we need to create space and so we scroll, scroll, scroll, back-up, back-up, back-up, then hit the wall as we now have to decide on which cute photos and happy videos to delete. And that’s where the downward digital momming spiral starts to go downhill.
As they say, too much of a good thing can be bad. Bad enough there are times we may not have been “present” in the moments in those pictures because we are too busy capturing and posting it, now we have to go through the trouble of sorting them. So what’s a mom to do?
Well, as present-day followers of Jesus, Christian moms like us ought to take the cue from Jesus’ own mother, Mary. The Bible has been consistent in saying that whenever something meaningful happens to her “she keeps it in her heart.” She did this the first time the angel appeared to her as the teenage virgin who was chosen to carry the savior of the world. And then again as she welcomed guests in the barn when they visited Baby Jesus. And then again when they found the Young Jesus who got lost for days during their trip to Jerusalem.
“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:17-19
And while some of you may say that Mama Mary may not have a choice given that cameras let alone smart phones have not been invented in her era, well, she still exemplified what we modern moms should be doing — soaking it all in. Like her, we should be embracing the moments, and treasuring the finite and meaningful occasions we share with our families.
“Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.” Deuteronomy 32:7
So how do we practically “treasure the moments” in our hearts? Well, there are several ways, but I will suggest at least three: (1) Be present; (2) Be authentic; (3) Be intentional.
We all need to be really present whenever we spend time with our kids. We should not be too conscious of how we look, or how our surroundings seem, that we no longer get to enjoy the moment that we have been blessed with. We have to remind ourselves that not everyone has the privilege to become a mom, and that that special moment is God’s blessing and so we have to enjoy and feel it. We ought to stop stressing ourselves over the location, the clothing coordination, the blocking, and the poses and all. Just enjoy.
Authenticity is yet another thing that could help us keep the memory in our heart. Authenticity validates our reason for capturing memories. Are we doing it for the likes? Are we doing it to project something about our life we wanted others to envy?
Last is intentionality. We have to tell ourselves that we have to soak up the moment so when we look back on it, we can truly remember how it felt, and how each of our family members relished the moment. We also should set a good example — that family activities and precious moments are not captured for boasting purposes. Instead, it is filmed so that we can have some sort of time capsule to look back on through the years.
“‘But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’” Matthew 6:20-21
We have to capture and save memories, such that when our children see it in the future they will remember the reason why the photo was special. That they will not remember it for the outtakes when everyone fought through the blocking, or that they were too hungry yet they were delayed from eating because the table had not been properly set yet and captured.
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Romans 12:9
And so whenever we find ourselves struggling to delete photos, let us remind ourselves that we are not deleting them for nothing. We are deleting them because we have enjoyed them already and we can always look back at the backups. That each of those moments have already been wonderfully uploaded in our hearts, and now, we are ready to make space for more of those moments God will soon bless us with.
Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Luke 2:13-20 to dig deeper on today’s topic.
Reflection Question: Are you also struggling to sort, manage, and go through all your digital photos? How can Mamam Mary’s example encourage you to soak in and enjoy precious moments with family?
Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, thank you for blessing us with meaningful memories with our children and loved ones. Help us enjoy these moments more intentionally, so that we could soak in this grace you have poured on us. Amen.