Filtering Your Input
The mission of The Sage Forum is to encourage, equip, and empower women over 40 to mature in faith and grow in wisdom. We send out a newsletter at the beginning of each month focusing on a different theme relevant to women in the second half of life. In December, we’ll be exploring the topic of hospitality.
The Sage Forum Extra! is a short mid-month reflection meant to offer you a word of encouragement. Today’s Extra! is penned by Sage Forum guest contributor Linda Washington. Linda is a writer/editor/crocheter living in Wheaton, Illinois.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
—Proverbs 4:23
Months ago, I heard several pastors say virtually the same thing in their sermons: Set boundaries on what you take in. Though I heard what they said, I put off doing anything about it. But recently, I scrolled through a number of posts on Facebook with gloomy messages in regard to publishing. People often process their pain online. When one person vents, others feel free to vent as well. That day, many people vented. And since close to two thirds of the friends I have on Facebook are writers, I couldn’t ignore the messages. And they kept coming.
I was in the middle of writing a middle grade novel and revising a picture book. Because of the gloomy outlook posted over and over on Facebook, I stopped working on both projects. What’s the point if everything is bad in publishing? I thought. I shared that reasoning with the Lord. He reminded me that my assignment from Him—to write to the glory of God—hadn’t changed. So I had a choice: I could let the gloomy outlook of others dictate my behavior or I could remain in obedience to the Lord, trusting what He said to do, regardless of the outcome.
God had been gracious enough to send warnings my way and gracious enough to pick up the pieces when I didn’t heed the warnings. He reminded me of opportunities He had given me in publishing and the fact that He’d kept me when the well seemed dry. Even when books I’d written went out of print or rejections came from agents I queried, He encouraged me to keep writing. So now my part was to heed the warnings I’d been given in order to be obedient to Him.
It’s hard to grow or maintain hope in an atmosphere of toxicity. Think of a houseplant being fed on toxic waste. Since I couldn’t control what others said or did, I could control the amount of access I allowed in certain situations. Solomon’s sage advice in Proverbs 4:23 reminded me to guard my heart like the watchmen who guarded the gates of ancient cities. Since negative attitudes can be contagious, I chose to severely cut back my Facebook intake for the foreseeable future. Like David in 1 Samuel 30:6, I encouraged myself in the Lord and continued to write.
My decision to limit my social media intake is not a decision I’m trying to force on anyone. What’s right for me may not be right for you. You might ask yourself: What have I noticed about my attitude based on what I’ve seen or heard? Am I more hopeful? Discouraged?
For someone, watching what you take in might mean cutting back on a TV show that really isn’t feeding your soul. For another it might mean avoiding conversations based on rumors or gossip. Whatever it may be, a good first step is to go the Father and seek His counsel through the Word and the wise counsel of others.
Father God, You are gracious, loving, and wise. Thank You for the wisdom You offer to help us guard our hearts. Help us to maintain our trust in You. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Reflect: Prayerfully consider Linda’s questions above (“What have I noticed about my attitude based on what I’ve seen or heard? Am I more hopeful? Discouraged?”) And remember — each one of us has a different capacity for processing the information we receive digitally and in person, and a different calling to use, share, and pray about the information we receive in the course of a day.
What do you think, Sages? What principles guide you as you consider how to filter your input?
We do have to be SO careful about what we let our brains ingest!
I had to let go of all social media to cut out the noise. Hard to hear the still small voice in a cacophony. The call to write, I believe, comes embedded in our DNA. I started writing shortly after I learned to read. Over time I poured out my heart and imagination with pencil on notebook paper then stuffed my stories and poems in the bottom dresser drawer. I didn't title them or give a byline because that would have been presumptuous of me as though I thought I was an 'author'.
I never got over it. Decades passed and I found small outlets for my ramblings, that I have come to accept as me just writing to find out what I think. I've had columns, a blog and a couple of books, and now a substack, and even helped others get their words in bound books. But it doesn't matter to me, as it didn't when my words hid under my socks, whether anyone reads what I put out because I have come full circle - still just talking to myself. And trusting that if I said something worthwhile, God would direct someone to read it. I may or may not ever know and it's okay.