Vapor Talk

“You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14)

We don’t realize how quickly seasons pass until we are scrolling through memories and the person we see is almost unrecognizable. All it took was several thousand moments, some major but mostly insignificant, to irrefutably shift from one chapter of life to the next. This caused me pause as I thought about the previous seasons and how I felt like something about that season “would never end” or felt “so difficult” or how worried I’d been about something in particular that ended up being so tiny in comparison to the grand scheme.

Here’s something I’ve realized: The temporary, low-impact things do not deserve as much time as I’ve given.

Let me rephrase: The amount of energy I invested worrying about the insignificant minutia in that vapor of time did not serve me or those around me well.

It’s like cranking on the windshield-wipers for a single droplet of rain or using binoculars for a glasses situation. My husband will tell ya if anyone can make mountains from molehills, it’s me! But I’m not alone because I see us doing this all the time. Like the Hailey v. Selena debate, which I still don’t understand at all because I’m honestly and sincerely out of touch with most pop culture. Apparently a girl was “shading” the other girl in a social media post…. that didn’t seem to reference “said girl” at all. Yet, millions have rallied into troops saying “team Hailey” or “team Selena.” And both parties have spoken out in support of one another, seemingly debunking said shade. Why is this a topic of discussion? Because that’s just what social media has done to us. It’s created an arena where everyone has to shout their opinion down to the two parties in question, no matter how frivolous the debate is.

But that’s just what we tend to do: focus on the frivolous. We love to care about the optics of our lives rather than what’s actually going on. So, it’s no wonder that we are statistically more stressed, depressed and overall unwell.

After having my son it really hit me how inexplicably fast time passes and how we cannot control or manipulate time but that we can better utilize the time we are given.

For me, it’s less time mindlessly scrolling and putting on junky TV to numb my brain after a long day. It’s having to say “I need to stop worrying,” and actually do something about it. It’s waking up with prayer and ending the day the same. It’s finding time to be quiet and reflect with the Lord.

Being intentional doesn’t happen magically. It’s a daily decision, one that the enemy of God doesn’t want us to make. The darkness wants our vapor to be spent recklessly so that our talents are left in our hands when we leave this earth. Let’s not allow that to happen!

This Lenten season, let’s decide on how we are going to honor the Lord by spending our vapor wisely.