While discussing God’s relationship to people and their circumstances, a friend quoted a phrase many people assume is in the Bible:
“God helps those who help themselves.”
He isn’t alone: one in 8 Americans believe the Bible not only teaches this, but that it says this, too.
And yet if you went searching for it in the book of Proverbs or in the sayings of Jesus, you’d be out of luck—it’s nowhere in the Bible. In fact, the Bible says and teaches the exact opposite!
So if it’s not in the Bible, where’d it come from? And what does the Bible say instead?
Benjamin Franklin Offers God’s Help to Those Who Help Themselves
Although he didn’t invent it, Benjamin Franklin is generally held to have popularized this motto in his Poor Richard’s Almanac. Here’s how it appears in the 1757 edition:
…let us hearken to good advice, and something may be done for us. “God helps them that help themselves,” as Poor Richard says, in his almanac of 1733.
While this may sound superficially like the kind of proverb you might hear from a committed Christian, Franklin was a deist. He didn’t believe in a personal God who is actively involved in the affairs of people, but rather in a God who set the world in motion but stands at a distance while we fend for ourselves.
So not only is this motto not in the Bible, it wasn’t popularized by someone who was committed to the historic Christian faith and the Bible’s teachings on God’s character.
Aesop Promises Help from the Gods When We Help Ourselves
The real origin of the motto probably lies in ancient Greece, when the storyteller Aesop wove the proverb into one of his tales:
A WAGGONER was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way. At last he came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. “O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress,” quoth he. But Hercules appeared to him, and said:
“Tut, man, don’t sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel.
“The gods help them that help themselves.”
Though this catchy slogan sounds like something from the Bible’s book of Proverbs, its origin is likely in Aesop’s fables (or in ancient proverbs that inspired them).
The Quran Promises Allah’s Help After We Change Ourselves
While this motto isn’t in the Bible, a variation of it can be found in another religious text: the Quran. The Quran’s Ar-Ra’d 13:11 reads:
Indeed Allah will not change the conditions of a population until they change what is in themselves.
In this passage, the Quran expects a person to help himself by changing his own attitude and behavior before God will come to his aid. The principle is the same as that in Aesop’s proverb: those who expect divine help must first get the ball rolling themselves.
What Does the Bible Say Instead?
Whatever its origin, this popular motto doesn’t reflect what the Bible teaches. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of biblical teaching!
For example, the Old Testament book of Proverbs teaches that relying on ourselves, rather than on the wisdom of God, is foolhardy:
Those who trust in themselves are fools,
but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. (Proverbs 28:26)
If we can’t trust ourselves, then what hope do we have? Fortunately, the Bible has an answer. The prophet Isaiah declares that God helps those who are utterly helpless:
You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall (Isaiah 25:4)
God provides tangibly for those who are helpless and needy. God helps those who can’t help themselves. And who does the Bible consider helpless? Everyone! “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” the Bible tells us:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)
When it comes to our greatest need—rescue from sin and death—there’s nothing we can do to save ourselves. All have turned from God; all have sinned. We are utterly unable to find true spiritual peace through our own efforts. Thankfully, that is where God comes in:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6,8)
Christ’s death is the solution to the problem of sin and death that we can’t solve on our own. It’s tempting to think that we might be able to help ourselves out of even this predicament, but the Bible clearly teaches that there’s nothing we can do on our own to find salvation.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
Our help comes from God alone, and it happens when we turn our lives over to him in faith, trusting in the work of Christ on the cross. This isn’t something we work for; and there’s certainly nothing we can change about ourselves to make us worthy of God’s help. Instead, we are saved by the passionate, undeserved love of God. It’s his gift to us!
So the next time you hear someone say “God helps those who help themselves,” remind them what the Bible says instead: God helps those who can’t help themselves.
That means you, me… and the world.
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What does it look like to be a woman of God who thrives in today’s world? We’ve just added two new free email devotions for women!
These short, inspiring devotions explore the challenges and opportunities women face in integrating their faith into family, careers, and relationships. You can sign up for either or both at our Devotionals for Women page. Here’s what’s new:
9 Key Women in the Bible: Each day of this devotional provides a different glimpse of life in the ancient world. Over nine days, this devotional looks at the problems faced by the extraordinary women of the Bible—and how they solved them through God’s grace and providence.
Wisdom for Women: From social media to social justice, this six-day devotional offers wisdom for modern women whose lives look much different than those in the days of Jesus or Ruth.
These new devotional experiences join Encouragement for Today, Girlfriends in God, and other devotionals that offer insight for mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. You can see more of them at our Devotionals for Women page (and of course, many of the other offerings in our newsletter library are perfectly relevant to women, too).
If you’re a woman who could use some help integrating your faith with your busy everyday life, sign up for one of these free devotionals today!
Editor’s Note: Wrecked by the news from her husband of an affair and a request for a divorce, Shauna Shanks shares the beginnings of her courageous journey to save her marriage in this except from her new book,A Fierce Love.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:13
Finally, in desperation, I pleaded with God, “Please just give me one thing I can focus on! Just one word. Too many thoughts are ransacking my brain and I need to be calm and sleep.” I had to get up with the kids in just a few short hours and I knew if I didn’t sleep I would be exhausted all the next day. Maybe if I could focus on one word my mind would stop racing. “Give me something, God, anything.”
God gave me two words.
Endure. Hope.
Immediately my mind went to 1 Corinthians 13, The Love Chapter. I never would have gone there on my own. It sounded too cliché to me, too recitable. It’s the chapter that is always read during wedding ceremonies. It seemed very common and overused. I grew up a church kid. Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday nights, and any time the doors were open, my family was there. Us kids were even in Bible clubs where we were given prizes for memorizing popular Bible verses. So when I say I knew those verses, I knew those verses. I know how to love, for goodness’ sake. That’s too simple. Elementary.
Nevertheless, I was grateful for those words and for something to focus my attention toward. Immediately, I looked up the word endure. To endure means to suffer patiently. Deep breath. Relief.
Okay. I can do that. It doesn’t sound fun, though. Especially since historically, “patiently” in God-years can mean forty years wandering around in the desert! Still, at least it’s clear direction. It’s something to do. I am thankful for that. I can wait. I can endure.
It’s the hoping that will be the challenge. Hope. Hope is believing for a desired outcome. This outcome over which I have no control. Micah has made up his mind about me. I have been cut out. Like a dog that feels the hard blow of his owner’s boot. It is setting in. I am being tossed aside and thrown away. “I am leaving you,” he said. “I don’t love you,” he stated.
What if I hope and it never comes to pass? To keep hoping means to stay vulnerable. It keeps my heart soft when I’d rather it be hard and scab over. Then you can move on. I’d rather it heal and not be this raw, open, gaping wound.
Hope. Such a daunting thing to do when faced with such bleakness. I will work on that one, I vowed. After all, I only had two things to work on.
An amazing thing had happened, but in the trenches of my despair, I didn’t recognize the miracle. I was so desperate to have something to hold onto that I reacted to the words he spoke, but I failed to pause and rejoice in the simple fact that God was speaking. It was amazing. But what was truly a wonder, and what hadn’t happened much of my whole adult life, was that God was speaking, and I heard him.
I had been notorious for doing things and making decisions on my own and then asking God to bless those decisions. I didn’t understand people who prayed and asked God for direction and then felt confident they had heard him. But my ability to hear God began that night without my even knowing it. In the desperate days and weeks ahead, I would come to depend on these words as the source of my life. God would continue to give me clear direction and never leave me alone.
I made a decision that first night not to love based on feelings. Feelings, as I had learned, can change with the wind, with the seasons. But love. It perseveres.
I was to continue to love Micah, taking any love I had been receiving from him out of the equation. That love had been replaced by betrayal, harsh and damaging words, and emotional abandonment. When faced with those things, God took me back to 1 Corinthians 13. There it is. Do this.
God’s love is described in those verses, and he instructed me to love his way, not any way I was used to, and not based on feelings. There in those verses were written instructions that I could refer back to over and over again. I paused at every word and reflected on what it would look like for me if lived out this love as described.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Cor. 13:4–8).
I replayed all the words I had read over and over in my mind. It is not jealous. Or rude. It is not provoked. It doesn’t take delight in wrongdoing but rejoices when the truth is spoken. It protects. Love bears all things, believes all things. Endures all things. Love never fails. It Does. Not. Fail.
Only because of the state I was in did I begin to understand the enormity of the challenge in these Scriptures. To fully absorb God’s message, I read the chapter over and over in every version I could find, including the Amplified Bible, “Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. . . . Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. . . . Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end] (1 Cor. 13:5, 7–8 AMPC).
My goodness, this love is beautiful. It is perfect. Is it possible? It must be, because God said it. And he had it written down. And he spoke it to me. I clung to these words. I wanted my husband back. God’s way seemed like the way to go for me. The only way.
I was soon to discover that 1 Corinthians 13 was more than beautiful poetry.
A Fierce Love is the story of a train wreck and reaching out to God not in the calm but in the chaos and finding hope for the future.
Wrecked with news of her husband’s affair and his request for a divorce, Shauna Shanks finds herself urgently faced with a decision. Does she give up and divorce her husband and move on, or does she try to fight for her marriage? The former choice seems to contradict God’s plan for how to love, such as “love never gives up,” “love is patient,” and “love is kind.”
Taking God at His word and assuming the love chapter was really meant to be followed literally word by word, she not only finds herself falling in love with her spouse again, but also falling in love with Jesus, which changes everything.
This book is not air-brushed. It was written in the midst of the author’s deepest trauma, and she purposefully did not edit out her mistakes and failures during that season. This book will resonate with those of you who do not feel like the picture-perfect Christian woman with the fairytale life and marriage.
Shauna Shanks is a wife, mother, and entrepreneur. She started Smallfolk, a health food café, out of her passion for health and fitness. She graduated from Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas, with a focus on world missions. Shauna and her husband, Micah, who is a police officer, have been married for more than a decade, and they live with their three boys on an Ohio farm.
Do you long to deepen your intimacy with God? How can contemplating, visualizing, and personalizing the Bible help you find a sense of soul-steadying peace?
What is the act of meditating and what does the Bible say about its importance?
Robert J. Morgan: Biblical meditation is the habit of treasuring up God’s words and pondering them in our hearts. It’s grounded in daily Bible study; but when we leave our time of Bible reading, it’s important to take Scripture with us so we can mentally mull over it all day long. Meditation is pondering, picturing, and practicing Scripture. If I’m meditating on the Love Chapter of the Bible, for example, I quote verses from 1 Corinthians 13 to myself all day. If I need guidance, I preach Proverbs 3:5-6 to myself day and night. If I’m anxious, I keep rehearsing Philippians 4:4-6. Meditation is the portable habit of training the mind to think about Scripture passages in every spare moment, in times of both tension and relaxation.
How does transcendental meditation differ from biblical meditation?
Robert J. Morgan: Biblical meditation is not transcendental meditation. It’s transformational meditation, for Romans 12 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which happens as we ponder and practice Scripture. Transcendental meditation seeks to relax the body by emptying the mind and the muscles of stress. Many transcendentalists repeat a phrase over and over to divert the mind from other thoughts. While there’s value in deep breathing and muscle relaxation, biblical meditation isn’t a matter of emptying the mind but of filling it with Scripture.
When I meditate, I think about passages of Scripture with which I’m familiar. Yesterday, for example, I had a long flight from California. When my eyes got tired, I closed them and thought of Joshua 1:8-9, letting that passage cycle through my mind over and over. To me, biblical meditation is a much better answer for stress than transcendental meditation.
What makes it necessary for biblical mediation to be reclaimed?
Robert J. Morgan: To reclaim biblical meditation, we need three things:
(1) A determined time of daily Bible reading and study. We can’t practice biblical meditation without biblical content, and that requires being in Scripture.
(2) A Scripture memory plan. Every morning I spend a few minutes working on whatever verse I’m memorizing, and when I get that verse into my mind, I go to the next one. I recently learned Colossians 3:1-4 by heart, and now whenever I walk through the park I rehearse it to myself, rolling every word through my mind.
(3) A plan to train our minds to turn toward Scripture when they’re idle. If I wake up during the night, rather than allowing my mind to think about what’s fretting me, I should instantly begin quoting Colossians 3:1-4, or some other passage. Biblical memorization and meditation has become the most helpful habit I’ve ever discovered.
You say biblical meditation is not thinking about Scripture, but thinking Scripture. Explain.
Robert J. Morgan: I’m grateful for the Bible study tools at our disposal and for all the devotional aids. But good spiritual nutrition doesn’t depend on reading a devotional thought or finding a good insight from a commentary, helpful though those may be. It comes as we quote and read and think about the undiluted words of Scripture itself. If I face a difficult challenge that threatens me, there’s no substitute to saying to myself: “God is our refuge and strength, an every-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1-2).
What happens to our minds as we think Scripture?
Robert J. Morgan: We’re made new in the attitude of our minds (Ephesians 4:23). As we meditate on God’s Word we begin thinking his thoughts. The Bible says our thoughts are not his thoughts; for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are his thoughts above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). There’s wisdom from above and wisdom from below (James 3:15-17). Left to ourselves, our intellects are lacking; our thinking is distorted, inadequate, and short-sided. But God’s thoughts are eternal, true, wise, and always correct in their perspective.
He sent down his thoughts to us in his Word (Isaiah 55:10-11), and as we memorize and meditate on Scripture we begin thinking increasingly as God does. We begin seeing things from his point of view. When we look at the situations of life through the lens of Scripture, we begin seeing things in Scriptural terms and our minds are God-conditioned.
How can a person train his mind so that Scripture “constantly circulates”?
Robert J. Morgan: Here’s how I do it. Every morning I spend some time in Bible reading and prayer, and during that time I take about five minutes to work on a verse I’m memorizing. I usually memorize consecutive verses in a passage. I don’t rush the process, but over time I’ve been able to memorize many paragraphs of Scripture. Then I find moments during the day when I can let these verses circulate through my mind like oil through a machine.
Sometimes, if I feel a wave of fatigue sweep over me, I’ll stretch out on the sofa for a few minutes and silently quote these Scriptures. As we wait on the Lord, our strength is renewed. It’s especially helpful to fall asleep at night while pondering a particular verse. In time, our minds learn to use Scripture as their default setting. The Holy Spirit has something to do with that, and true peace and wisdom come as the Spirit within us uses the Word within us to transform us.
How does biblical meditation fit in with the biblical mandate to “fear not”?
Robert J. Morgan: I’m fearful by nature; I have issues with anxiety. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taken my fears to the Bible and found fortifying verses, which I’ve claimed and clung to. One of the first verses I learned as a child was Isaiah 41:10: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Sometimes in a moment of worry, I simply quote that verse over and over, not as a mantra but as a way of pounding it more deeply into my heart and mind.
What are some techniques you recommend?
Robert J. Morgan: I have a small loose-leaf notebook in which I keep my Bible memory passages. When I choose a passage to memorize, I print it on its own page in pen and ink from the translation I like best, and I work on it a phrase at a time. This is a lifetime project. I hope to be adding verses as long as I live. We also have to create some quiet zones in our lives. Our electronics have robbed us of leisure spaces between tasks, but we have to take back some of that space. I’ve learned that taking five minutes here or there to walk in the garden or sit on the swing and quote Scripture is like a shot of B-66 to my system.
What should be the result of biblical mediation in a person’s life?
Robert J. Morgan:Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.”
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Robert J. Morgan: If you were to walk into my office almost anytime, you’d see Bible Gateway on the side monitor of my computer. I love being able to reference any Bible verse from any translation so quickly and easily.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Robert J. Morgan: We’ve created a free downloadable study guide for Reclaiming the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation so it can be used for group studies. The book itself is inexpensive, and the study guide is free. But I believe the practice of biblical meditation is the missing link in Bible study, lesson development, and sermon preparation—and I want to change that. In this age of incredible stress, it would be of utmost help for every one of us to reclaim the lost art of biblical meditation.
Bio: Robert J. Morgan is the teaching pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, where he’s served for more than 30 years. The author of Then Sings My Soul: The Story of Our Songs—Drawing Strength from the Great Hymns of Our Faith, he’s a bestselling and Gold-Medallion-winning author with more than 35 books in print and more than 4 million books in circulation. His products in electronic and audio format number hundreds of thousands. He’s also a staff writer for Dr. David Jeremiah and Turning Points Ministries. Rob’s books have been translated into multiple languages, and he has appeared on many national television and radio programs. He and his wife, Katrina, reside in the Opryland area of Nashville and in Roan Mountain, Tennessee. They have three daughters and 14 grandchildren.
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You’ve heard many Bible stories hundreds of times. But as those stories have become more and more familiar, what background details might you be missing?
Christians believe that reading and understanding the Bible requires no special knowledge of history. But while that’s true, it’s also true that many familiar Bible stories take on fresh meaning when we understand the cultural context in which they occurred.
Our new devotional Living History: Exploring Biblical Cultures will introduce you to the fascinating world of biblical history and culture. In the course of seven daily devotions, you’ll explore questions like:
What did early Christians understand about the “mark of the beast” mentioned in Revelation?
What was unusual about David’s famous battle against Goliath?
How was Yahweh dramatically different from the commonly-worshipped pagan gods of the Old Testament world?
Living History: Exploring Biblical Cultures is completely free, runs for one week, and begins as soon as you sign up. Sign up for Living History and find answers to these and other fascinating questions about the biblical world!
How does the Qur’an compare to the Bible? What figures and themes can be found in both? What is the theology, anthropology, soteriology, and portrayal of Jesus throughout the Qur’an?
Mark Robert Anderson: To begin, no other scripture makes it into the news on such a regular basis as the Qur’an and yet is so enigmatic, inspiring such wildly contested interpretations. So I wanted to guide readers through the interpretive minefields to a place where they can truly grasp what this immensely important book is saying.
Another reason I wrote The Qur’an in Context is that Christians have been at loggerheads with Muslims for ages now, and the Qur’an stands at the heart of our differences. Most Christians today either join in angrily attacking the Muslim scripture or else try to gloss over our differences with it in an attempt to seek friendship with Muslims.
I believe another approach is needed; one that respects Muslims by taking their distinctives and their humanity with equal seriousness. That’s what I see Jesus doing—with the Samaritan woman, for example. So in my book I attempt to model the way I believe Jesus would have us approach the Qur’an, with grace and truth.
Where must we begin in order to move toward a better understanding of the Qur’an?
Mark Robert Anderson: To understand any text, we need to begin with its original context. And that’s a big part of our problem with the Qur’an. Most of us know very little about the world—let alone the hinterland of Arabia—during the early 7th century when the Qur’an originated. Divorced from its historical context—which is how it usually comes to us—the Qur’an can be made to say all kinds of things it never meant to say.
How does the portrayal of Jesus in the Bible compare to how he’s portrayed in the Qur’an?
Mark Robert Anderson: The Qur’an clearly honors Jesus by presenting him as a virgin-born, sinless prophet and miracle worker (in the same sense that the Bible presents Moses and Elijah as miracle workers). But even as the Qur’an honors Jesus, it sidelines him, making him very secondary to Muhammad, whom it calls the Seal of the Prophets. It also reverses Jesus’ ethical teachings on a number of key points and deemphasizes his death and resurrection to such a degree that most Muslims believe the Qur’an denies their historicity.
It does call Jesus the Messiah, but it empties the term of its biblical meaning. It clearly does not view Jesus as God’s last word to humankind, as the New Testament does, nor anything he did as vital to our salvation.
What are two ways in which the teachings of the Bible and the Qur’an are similar? Different?
Mark Robert Anderson: Like the Bible, the Qur’an presents God as the sovereign creator of all that is. But while it would agree with the Bible that God can do anything he chooses to do, it nevertheless would never allow that he could choose to become incarnate and enter his creation as a man. The Qur’an also agrees with the Bible in presenting Adam as God’s vicegerent on earth, but it never says what that role involves. It apparently excludes Eve from that responsibility (indeed, it doesn’t even mention her name) and it generally makes the divine-human relationship far less intimate.
How does the Qur’an claim to be the sequel to the Bible?
Mark Robert Anderson: The Qur’an speaks repeatedly and always very respectfully of both the Jewish and Christian scriptures, acknowledging them as God-given. It specifically mentions, for example, the Torah given to Moses and the Psalms given to David. But its primary purpose in mentioning the biblical Scriptures is to position itself as God’s last word to humankind, or in other words, as the Bible’s sequel.
Briefly describe the Western debate about traditional Islamic origins. How do you hope this book helps in bringing understanding?
Mark Robert Anderson: There’s quite a gap between Muhammad and the first Muslim sources on him—about 200 years. The first non-Muslim sources on Islam narrow the gap to within a few years of Muhammad’s death, but they exhibit non-Muslim biases and tell not the Muslim story per se, but only how it intersects with their (non-Muslim) stories. The resultant messiness is very normal to historical study, and these two sets of sources can be harmonized. But, by capitalizing on their divergence and on contradictions within the Muslim sources, some Western scholars reject the traditional origins narrative and render the qur’anic milieu an open question. They hypothesize radically different narratives, ranging anywhere from denying Muhammad’s existence outright to turning him into a defender of Christian orthodoxy.
The Qur’an in Context guides readers through this debate and helps them appreciate why a scholarly consensus is forming around an approach in basic agreement with the traditional origins narrative, but much more grounded in the world of Late Antiquity in which it played out. Again, this is vital because our understanding of the Qur’an—on everything from Jesus to jihad—is inevitably rooted in our understanding of both its story and its original context.
Bio: Mark Robert Anderson lived and worked in the Middle East for over ten years, teaching in a university and seminary. Anderson has been a member of Jacob’s Well, a faith-based organization seeking mutually transformative relationships with marginalized residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and for two years he was part of a team helping homeless people find sustainable housing and employment. He has an MA in Islamic studies from McGill University and an MA in Christian religion from Westminster Theological Seminary. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
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Does it feel like the world has gone crazy and you’re just along for the ride? Are you afraid for your children? Are you worried of not having enough strength to face the day? What does the Bible mean when we read “fear not”?
What’s the difference between living human brave and Jesus strong?
Lisa Whittle: Human brave is done in our capabilities—dependant upon us; therefore, it has an expiration date to it. Jesus strong is an endless supply of inner strength that comes from the power of the Holy Spirit—promised in places like Philippians 4:13: “I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
I’m grateful life is not about being brave in our humanness, because if it were, I’d be in trouble. One minute I feel brave and the next I feel like I want to curl up in a fetal position in the closet, scared over what’s going on in this crazy world. We use this word, a lot—overuse it, really, but we don’t even know what it means and call so many different things brave. It has to be about something more than that: the powerful strength that comes from our help, Jesus Christ, when we come to him, weak—clearly defined in the Bible. That’s something higher and enduring. That’s Jesus strong.
What role does the Bible play in a person living Jesus strong?
Lisa Whittle: The Bible plays a huge role in the Jesus strong life. I say often that everything we need to know is found in the Word of God, and it’s true. We can’t be truly strong without the Bible guiding our life. It’s everything—our lamp, our map, our calibrator, our comfort, our balancer, our peace. Without the Bible, we don’t know the way to go, can’t know the heart of God and how he wants us to live. The Bible shows us how to treat people, holds us accountable in love, and infuses in us the daily strength we need to live in this tough world. What a gift the Father gives us in his Word—he gives us himself!
What’s the number one way we stop living below our spiritual potential?
Lisa Whittle: The number one way we stop living below our spiritual potential is, we learn to walk in the authority of God. In this, we have to first understand that, according to Ephesians 1, God is the highest authority in this entire world and through our relationship with him, because of his great love for us and his great grace, we walk covered by that authority.
He decided that was the way it would be, and for us to walk through this life scared and unsettled and unsure, wavering in our belief and faith in him, is for us to live below our spiritual potential. Far too many of us have lived this kind of life for far too long. It’s time to rise to our spiritual potential, and that’s what I pray for the reader of this book.
What are the two best ways for defending your beliefs in an aggressive culture?
Lisa Whittle: I discuss these two things in detail in the Boots of Standard section of Put Your Warrior Boots On—such an important truth to cling to right now; especially, as standards are being eroded daily.
We defend our beliefs in an aggressive culture by first, knowing what we believe. It’s the second declaration of the warrior boots believer, and it’s a vital one. It says in John 7:17, “Man must know in order to do God’s will…” We have to know what we believe, truly know, so we can stand in the shifting sands of culture. We have an epidemic of believers who are saavy to our smartphones but illiterate to the Word of God. We’ve got to get real about this and commit to knowing what we believe so we can be settled and grounded in our convictions, instead of insecure and waffling every time a hard conversation comes up.
Second, we have to tell the truth to ourselves and others. This is a part of that getting real I’m talking about. We’ve got to stop deflecting about where our spiritual lives really are, settling for God-ish Christianity (2 Timothy 3:5—“having a form of godliness but denying its power…”). We’ve got to stop worrying about self-preservation and popularity over commitment to the gospel.
The beautiful reality is when we live with standards like these, we do ourselves a huge favor because we don’t have to scramble anymore to know what to say. People know where we stand and we don’t apologize for it but live with Jesus shining through. It just works.
What are the truths a person can cling to when they’re scared?
Lisa Whittle:
God has this. He hasn’t changed. He’s “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) and “has overcome the world” (John 16:33). The end.
God loves you. His intention for you is always going to be good (Jeremiah 29:11).
Heaven is the prize. This is not your best life yet, so there’s nothing here to lose (Philippians 3:14).
What are the two keys to living fearlessly?
Lisa Whittle: Preparation and trust.
1) Preparation: We won’t fear the hard times in the same way if we have the knowledge we are as prepared as we can be for them. The reason so many believers spend so much time in fear is because deep down we know we haven’t spiritually fortified our lives. We know we are marginal Christians and in the tough times, that won’t cut it. A prepared life is the life of a warrior. A warrior prepares so that when the time comes the strength they need is already there. The Bible is a book of preparation. Jesus gave us the Word to tell us what to do right now so we wouldn’t scramble, panic and fear.
2) Trust: There’s no way around the trust issue. If we don’t trust God, all our preparation won’t matter. We don’t have to trust ourselves. We just have to trust God. The way to trust is not to go on what we see. It’s to go on what we believe. Belief is the only way.
What is the “ministry of sameness” and why does the world need it?
Lisa Whittle: The ministry of sameness is a powerful illustration God gave me to impress on me the importance of believers living consistent lives. In my own life, he showed me that the steady life that preaches the same, loves the same, stays with Jesus, etc., is the one that shows others the example of the faithful Father they can count on through his follower who seeks to be like him.
People are longing for someone they can count on in this world, and nary a person who is dependable. I’m convicted to be the kind of person who shows up, loves like Jesus, preaches the truth without regard to popularity or concern for me. This is what the world needs from us, now, more than ever, because it’s a commodity so rare. Anyone can say words. But not everyone shows up. Not everyone sticks around. Not everyone is the same person without falling away from the faith. These are the ones we watch and look to for stability when the world is crashing down around us.
The world should say of the Christians—“of course they’re the ones caring for the orphans…of course they’re the ones crying over the poor…feeding the hungry and taking them in…staying faithful to God…I’m not surprised.” That’s the ministry of sameness. We have some work to do in this regard. That’s not our reputation by and large right now.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Lisa Whittle: Oh, I love it. I still use Bible Gateway all the time when I write, to look up different translations, etc. In fact, it was the first site I ever used when I started writing back in 2004, so I’m pretty nostalgic about it. What good work you all do at Bible Gateway. I appreciate you.
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Lisa Whittle: I just want to encourage you, my friend, to tell you that despite the crazy of the world, despite your hard place and how weak at the moment you may feel…you can do this. You can put those warrior boots on and walk Jesus strong. As a child of God, it’s your heritage. Don’t settle for a reactionary, fearful, unsettled life. You were made for better than that. One day we’ll start our real best life and all get better. But that day is not yet here, so let’s make the most of this life on earth and finally, for once and for all, rise to our spiritual potential. I’m praying for you, that this will be true.
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“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. 1 Corinthians 10:23 (NIV)
Our dependence on technology can be crazy-making. Many people have been trying to sound the alarm for years, but it doesn’t appear to be working on a large scale. Our devices are more popular than ever and more ingrained in our lives than we realize.
This was certainly true for me, but seeing this become true in the lives of our kids prompted me to do something about it.
I began to notice them going from one screen to the next. As soon as they laid down one device, they would quickly pick up another. I realized I couldn’t get upset with the kids for their nonstop use of technology unless I was modeling good limits on my own tech use. I know, it pretty much stinks that a double standard doesn’t work.
For years I have allowed computer time to bleed over into other areas, leeching time away from walking or reading or being still and quiet. I’ve actually thought, Why don’t I have as much time as I used to? Guess what? I do. I have always had twenty-four hours in a day. I have as much or as little time as I’ve ever had, but I have lost my sense of time by not setting boundaries with technology.
When I thought about what healthy use of technology might look like for me and what limits I needed to set, these are the ones that came up first. I’m not doing them perfectly, but I am doing them regularly.
Turn Off Email When Engaged in Something Else
When I turn off the email program on my laptop, I can think of it more like my outside mailbox. There may be mail there because I heard the carrier outside, but I’ll go and get it when I’m dressed and ready to do something with it. Since email requires none of that getting dressed stuff or even having to walk outside, I have a tendency to let it spill all over the place and gobble up all my time. I find myself looking at email at times when I can’t do anything with it, which may be the biggest time waster ever, because I will have to look at it again when I am going to deal with it properly. I’m much better at setting boundaries with snail mail, probably because it doesn’t beep and pile up every two minutes!
While I cannot control how often people send me email, I can control how often I look at it and when I respond to it. I do not have to give my attention to email just because it clamors for it or because everyone else seems to devote the day to it. When my children yell for me to come and see the biggest spit bubble ever, but I’m in the middle of something, I do not respond immediately to their request. “I’m cutting up fruit, sweetie. When I finish, I’ll come.” I know the bubble will probably be gone, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take. I want to give my children my attention when I am able to give it as completely and freely as possible. Who wants a frustrated mother who comes and rolls her eyes at the biggest spit bubble ever? No one.
I am not strong enough to be working on my computer and not look at my email as it comes in, but I am strong enough to turn off the email program so I can pay attention to what I’m paying attention to. I cannot live in calm if I’m trying to squeeze living, working, mothering, and connecting with people in between emails that will never stop coming. But when I turn off my email, even for a few hours, I am free from those demands and free to concentrate, to play, to rest, to shop—whatever I am choosing to give my full attention to.
A beautiful byproduct of setting limits on the reach of my email is that I inadvertently created time for myself. I discovered while writing one afternoon when my email was off that not only was my concentration better, but I got work done in much less time. I didn’t fully make the connection that day, but after a few times I knew I’d been more effective, and also more efficient. Whenever a project takes longer than the time allotted, it causes me to scramble, moving things around to give myself more time, creating crazy. But with a secure boundary around this huge time waster, I was finishing within my estimated time and sometimes even early. Who knew I could do more if I wasn’t distracted twenty times after I’d begun?
Mute Alerts, Alarms, and Ringers
Whenever a text alert comes from my phone, it startles me a little, and where is my phone anyway? I find it hard not to stop or interrupt what I’m doing and check my phone. Why is that? It’s because our brains get a little shot of dopamine (its favorite drug) whenever we hear that ding. Something has happened! Someone’s trying to reach me! My lives are refilled for Candy Crush! Come quick! But if I don’t hear those rings and alerts, they don’t distract me. Much like turning off my email, muting all the alerts provides me the freedom to concentrate on whatever I am trying to concentrate on.
This boundary keeps those pesky, nonstop alerts from physically changing my brain. I am more able to embody calm when I am not getting dopamine surges every few minutes. Our brains are dopamine addicts, and my phone had become my dealer. During the first few weeks of putting my phone on silent, I would forget I had done it and my brain would start to wonder, Why isn’t anyone texting me? I’d better go check my phone. I would remember I’d put it on silent and congratulate myself for getting clean. It felt so good that I could call the shots (literally) regarding the dopamine, and not my dealer, um, phone.
You might be saying to yourself, What if a text is critical? It could be something really important. It isn’t. If I’m waiting for a critical text, I do leave my phone on. When I am out for the evening and there is a sitter with my children, I don’t turn my phone to silent. When I am waiting to hear the results of a friend’s MRI, my phone is on. But for the most part, the text messages and calls I receive are not critical, unless you count as critical someone needing the recipe for Picnic Potato Salad.
When I am having family time, or quiet time, or just goof-off time, I want to be fully present. I don’t want to interrupt that time for what might be happening somewhere else. If I don’t set this boundary, my phone brings distraction opportunities twenty-four hours a day. I can’t function like this, and not because I don’t like smartphones or because I resist technological advances. It is because I no longer want to live in crazy, and constant distractions create crazy. An old German proverb applies here: “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair!”
I keep my devices quiet to limit the disruptions they inevitably cause and also to model control for my kids. If I am okay with their being on their phones all the time (when they actually get them—at age thirty!) then I can be on my phone all the time. But if I want my kids to know a different way, a way they might not appreciate for a long time, one that cultivates their creativity and shores up their concentration and allows them to work more efficiently, then I have to stay off my phone. I have to model the kind of control I want my kids to exhibit, and lead the way in setting limits on some things to make space for the things we love most, like each other.
I still forget to do this at times, because with the number of devices I have, it seems like it takes an hour to make sure everything is on silent, but when I mute the bells and whistles, I feel calm coming in like a breeze off the ocean. I feel in control of my technology versus feeling like the technology is controlling me.
Take Sabbaticals from Social Media
Are you familiar with the term FOMO? The letters stand for Fear of Missing Out. Someone coined this phrase to give words to the fear and anxiety that we might be missing out on something. Magazine ads compete to create FOMO so we’ll buy the clothes that show we’re “in the know.” Who doesn’t want to be invited to the party? We don’t want to miss out or be left out of anything, especially something we want to be included in. This desire is so normal and human. I remember feeling FOMO every single day of junior high. As social beings, we want to experience what others are experiencing; we want to belong.
Through the creation of Facebook and the like, FOMO has become an epidemic. Every single hour of every single day it is possible to open your computer and see a hundred or more things you are missing out on! Our friends all over the country are doing amazing things and going fabulous places (yay, them!), but, hmm, without us (ugh). I’ve never seen anyone post a vacation photo looking sad that I’m not there (but a cool idea!). FOMO could also stand for Facebook Only Makes Outsiders! It’s hard on the psyche to see photos of happy, tanned people on vacation if I’m stuck at home with kids and the stomach flu. I am not bashing social media—well, not completely. I’m simply advocating drawing a boundary around it to protect our emotional health. We can do this by giving social media more realistic context in our lives.
Research has revealed a connection between the high usage of social media and depression. The reasons are not surprising. Social media heightens depression because of comparison, which was one of the ingredients that created crazy in my life. We look from the outside at other people’s lives and we rank ourselves in ways that lead to discontent. Remember, comparison never reveals the whole story, only as much of the story as we need to feel inferior. Every comparison we make is like a dry twig, and before long we have a dangerous pile of kindling in the middle of our living room. One spark, which social media is happy to deliver, will start the fire that burns up satisfaction and gratitude faster than we can click “like.”
Facebook cleverly creates the illusion that we are connecting and participating in the lives of others simply by looking at their posts. But that’s not participation. We are not engaged with most of our Facebook “friends” on a relational level unless we spend time with them in person. We are merely spectators who can look at the lives of others and leave comments.
Fortunately, Facebook hasn’t been a habit for me, so consuming less has not been difficult. I’ve never liked the way it tries to connect me to other people. While I’m trying to decipher how Facebook connected me to some guy named Albert across the country who knows three of my sister’s friends in Alabama, an hour has gone by and I have no idea where it went. However, I now know that Charlene’s dog died yesterday, Mary’s daughter went to the prom with a really goofy-looking boy, Sarah got engaged at the Arboretum, and Michael, an old friend from high school, bought a new truck. I feel awful. Not because I feel left out, but because I feel overwhelmed that I can’t keep up with all the relationships I’m not really in. Should I send a card to Charlene? Or just post a couple of sentences? I’ll have to get a gift for Sarah, but she didn’t exactly tell me about her engagement, so should I wait for the announcement or like her pictures? Thank goodness I don’t need to send a gift to Michael for getting a new truck!
Social media is simply that—media. It is not possible to have five hundred friends. It is possible to have five hundred people’s posts to look through, but I can barely keep up with the people that live under my roof! So even trying to stay current on people’s posts creates crazy, never mind trying to post something about yourself! Especially if you feel like I do that stress comes from what you’re not getting done.
If you are trying to create calm in your life, take a sabbatical from social media. Come up with a schedule that lets you detox and get a break, such as, three weeks on and then one week off. Be wise and intentional about the amount of usage and always remind yourself that looking at other people’s lives from the outside is depressing.
Technology brings information, photos, apps, even movies, right to our fingertips. The possibilities are endless and conveniences are practical. But technology asks for a lot in return: our attention, our information, our choices, our focus, and our time. Use technology wisely; make conscious choices about what you’re willing to give away and what you’re not. In doing so you’ll limit the reach of the crazy and take an important step in extending calm to yourself and your family.
Author, speaker, and actor Nicole Johnson knows what it’s like to feel as if you’re drowning in crazy. When she couldn’t catch her breath or stay awake long enough to talk with her husband, let alone God, she sought to find new ways of “being” in her life. Creating Calm in the Center of Crazy is a voice of possibility and peace for those seeking to find a calm spiritual center in a crazy, runaway world. As a wife and mom of young children, Nicole recognized that life had become out of control. And, with the help of a crisis, she started her journey to create the very calm she was craving.
Nicole’s personal story grounds the book as she abandons mere tips and tricks (and the empty promises of time saving apps), to explore new practices—like creating a room of her own, setting technology boundaries, rediscovering the spiritual disciplines of quiet and still (they’re not bad words)—and then extending those practices to provide a safer, stronger refuge for calm to dwell.
Nicole’s journey is shared with relatable stories, insightful help, and practical ideas that explore the inner life of a recovering crazy busy woman finding her way to calm and a deeper relationship with God.
Nicole Johnson, author of Fresh Brewed Life, has a uniquely creative voice. As an accomplished writer, speaker, and actor, Nicole has performed in thousands of churches and venues over the last twenty-five years, including more than a decade of touring with the national conference Women of Faith. Nicole lives in Santa Monica, CA with her husband and two children.
June 5, 2022 will celebrate the Day of Pentecost. The Bible teaches we’re to be filled with the Holy Spirit and that God’s presence and grace is manifested among his people as they serve, love, and minister to one another. Yet why do gifts of prophecy, healing, tongues, and other supernatural gifts of God seem to be inconsistently demonstrated?
What is your “pipe dream” you speak of in your book and why do you long for it?
Sam Storms: The “pipe dream” is a wide array of local churches in the 21st century that are committed to the centrality and functional authority of the Bible and to the effective, Christ-exalting operation of all spiritual gifts. I long for it because that’s the vision for the local church that I see portrayed in the New Testament.
Today we have too many churches that swing to one end of the spectrum to the avoidance of the other. In other words, either they so strongly emphasize biblical authority that the supernatural work of the Spirit through his gifts is marginalized—if not entirely suppressed—or they so focus on spiritual gifts that little attention is paid to the functional authority of Scripture. My reading of the Bible is that God wants the body of Christ to embrace both with equal fervor and never to play off one against the other.
Too many Christians today think that these two areas of emphasis are mutually exclusive; that it simply isn’t possible to pursue life in the local church where both are wholeheartedly embraced. I beg to differ. That’s why I wrote Practicing the Power.
What are spiritual gifts and why does Paul say they should be eagerly desired?
Sam Storms: Spiritual gifts, to put it as simply as I know how, are the more or less concrete and tangible ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests his presence in and through the individual members of the church. Paul describes spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:7 as the “manifestation” of the Spirit, which is to say the empowering presence of the Spirit by which he enables and energizes Christians to minister and serve one another for the common good of God’s people. They’re to be eagerly desired because this is the primary way in which we’re edified or strengthened or built up in our faith. Paul explicitly identifies the purpose of all spiritual gifts when he says they’re “for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:7b).
How do you briefly answer someone who says some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer applicable today?
Sam Storms: My first response comes in the form of a question: “What biblical texts say that these gifts are no longer applicable today?” The answer is: None. There is nothing that I read in the New Testament that suggests Paul or any other author anticipated that spiritual gifts would cease to operate prior to the second coming of Christ and the end of the age. If spiritual gifts were essential in the first century to build up and strengthen the body of Christ, I see no reason why they shouldn’t or couldn’t accomplish that same goal today.
I would also point to such texts as 1 Corinthians 1:7-8; 13:8-12; and Ephesians 4:11ff. which strongly suggest (if not require) that spiritual gifts will operate until the return of our Lord. I include in Practicing the Power as an Appendix the 12 reasons why I don’t think cessation of the gifts is viable and 12 reasons why I think their validity today is the teaching of Scripture.
Does God automatically give spiritual gifts or are they granted by request?
Sam Storms: Both! It would appear from 1 Corinthians 12:7-10 and 1 Peter 4:10-11 that every born-again believer is granted at least one gift at the time of his/her conversion. But since Paul wrote to Christians at Corinth and told them to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that they might prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1), it seems clear that God can continue to grant spiritual gifts in response to our prayerful pursuit of them any time subsequent to conversion.
I would also point to 1 Corinthians 14:13 where Paul exhorts the person who has the gift of tongues (and is obviously already a believer) to pray that he/she might be granted the gift of interpretation. It would also appear from 1 Timothy 4:14 that Timothy was granted a spiritual gift when the elders laid hands on him and prayed, something that obviously occurred subsequent to his conversion.
Do Christians have more than one spiritual gift and how do they know what gift(s) they have?
Sam Storms: Some do, some don’t. The Apostle Paul had several gifts (apostleship, teaching, healing, prophecy, tongues, etc.).
The second question is more difficult to answer. Some recommend that we take spiritual gifts assessment tests to determine what gifts we have. That’s ok. But my preference is that instead of looking inwardly at ourselves, that we look outwardly to whatever needs there are in the church. Once a need is identified, step into the situation, ask God to empower you appropriately to meet whatever need is in front of you, and serve.
In other words, I like the idea of letting our gifts find us rather than us finding our gifts. So stop the introspection and go find a need and meet it, trusting that the Spirit will enable you to serve others to their benefit.
Why might Christians be afraid of spiritual gifts?
Sam Storms: There are quite a few reasons. One is that they haven’t been taught on the nature and operation of the gifts. The simple lack of familiarity often leads to fear and hesitation.
Second, they’ve often been taught that to seek or pray for gifts is to open up oneself to demonic seduction. But the New Testament never once warns us that humbly seeking and praying for spiritual gifts will bring anything other than a blessing.
Finally, many have been prejudiced against the supernatural and the operation of spiritual gifts by the outlandish and fanatical claims and manipulative practices of people they’ve seen on TV or the internet. The fear of guilt by association with such people is a paralyzing power.
What are the dangers of abusing spiritual gifts?
Sam Storms: The best answer for that is looking at what prompted Paul to write 1 Corinthians 12-14.
Some may think that a certain more miraculous gift must mean they’re more loved and highly favored of God.
Some may think that their gift is of such a superior nature that they should be given more time in a meeting than others to exercise it. There’s always the threat of “spiritual one-up-manship” that we must avoid.
Another abuse is using a spiritual gift to control or manipulate someone’s life, by telling them that “God told me to tell you that this is his will for your life.” Don’t ever do that!
Then there are those occasions when people elevate or prioritize spiritual gifts above spiritual character. The fruit of the Spirit are always more important than his gifts.
Finally, sometimes people base their identity on their gifting. But our identity is in Christ and ultimately has no relation to whatever gift the Spirit may have granted to us.
Why do you say prayer is a non-negotiable necessity?
Sam Storms: I say it because rarely does God grant us anything through any other means. God loves to glorify himself by suspending his gifts and blessings on our asking him for them. We should never presume to receive from God apart from prayer what he’s clearly told us in Scripture will be ours only through prayer. To put it simply, in the words of James, “you have not because you ask not” (James 4:2).
What’s the biblical basis of prophetic words and how is that prophecy expressed today?
A simple definition of prophecy is that it’s when we speak forth in merely human—and thus often fallible—words something that the Holy Spirit spontaneously brings to mind. It might be an inner impression, a vision, an image of some sort, or come to us by means of a dream. All prophecy is based on a revelation from God, but always operates at a lower level of authority than that of inspired Scripture.
What does it mean to quench the Spirit?
Sam Storms: To “quench” the Spirit is to act or speak in any way that prevents or hinders the Spirit from manifesting his presence. If some resist the idea that we actually have the power to quench the Spirit, they must deal with 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 where Paul clearly says we do.
The Spirit has determined that he will operate through certain means and at certain times and if we sinfully put obstacles or warnings or prohibitions in the way, he may well not do for us what he otherwise would have done.
It’s an awesome and frightening responsibility that God has given us that we behave and believe and minister in such a way that the Spirit’s work can be advanced, heightened, intensified, and widely spread rather than quenched or inhibited.
Bio: Sam Storms (PhD, University of Texas) is founder of Enjoying God Ministries, which provides biblical and theological resources to the body of Christ. He is also the senior pastor of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City and a former professor. Storms travels both in the United States and abroad, speaking at churches and conferences. He’s the author of over two-dozen books, including The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts, and a contributor to the Zondervan Counterpoints volume Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?. He blogs regularly at www.samstorms.org.
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Although he didn’t invent it, Benjamin Franklin is generally held to have popularized this motto in his Poor Richard’s Almanac. Here’s how it appears in the 1757 edition:
The real origin of the motto probably lies in ancient Greece, when the storyteller Aesop wove the proverb into one of his tales:
By Shauna Shanks 
It’s the hoping that will be the challenge. Hope. Hope is believing for a desired outcome. This outcome over which I have no control. Micah has made up his mind about me. I have been cut out. Like a dog that feels the hard blow of his owner’s boot. It is setting in. I am being tossed aside and thrown away. “I am leaving you,” he said. “I don’t love you,” he stated.
You’ve heard many Bible stories hundreds of times. But as those stories have become more and more familiar, what background details might you be missing?
by Nicole Johnson
I am not strong enough to be working on my computer and not look at my email as it comes in, but I am strong enough to turn off the email program so I can pay attention to what I’m paying attention to. I cannot live in calm if I’m trying to squeeze living, working, mothering, and connecting with people in between emails that will never stop coming. But when I turn off my email, even for a few hours, I am free from those demands and free to concentrate, to play, to rest, to shop—whatever I am choosing to give my full attention to.
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