It seems it’s easy to get into a mindset of wanting and often the false feeling of needing more. I fall into this trap a lot – especially in the gear world. It’s so easy to think that a different camera, a faster lens or the latest accessory is what I need to tell a better story. But the truth is, a lot of the time, most of that stuff can get in the way. It can slow you down, become cumbersome and many times they just become distractions.
You become so busy setting all this stuff up, checking settings and getting all the gear to work that a disconnect forms between you and your subject or you lose the relational connection you’ve built with them and they oftentimes become distant and more reserved – which impacts your story. Even if you’re not dealing with interview style settings, you can often miss the shot because you are distracted by all the choices you have and decisions you must make before you can even press record.
I’m not saying having options or having the latest technology is bad. But if you are using more than what you need to tell the story in front of you, then you are wasting resources, time and relationships with your subjects which often results in a weaker story. It’s better to use what you need. Nothing more. Nothing less. And I think the key is knowing what you need and what you don’t.
It’s easy to look at other people doing great work and think you need the same gear and the same setup to do great work. That’s not true. I’m sure if you asked any of them why they chose the camera and setup they had, they would tell you it was tailored for the subject matter, the story.
I fall into this trap of looking outward and confusing wants for needs in a lot of other areas of my life. Especially when it comes to me and God. I start to think I know what I need based on other successful Christians I see around me. I start to believe if I have the same prayer life as them or the same study life or have invested as much time giving back to the community or was involved in as many different ministries, then I too would be a successful Christian.
The reality is, even those things can get cumbersome and in the way. Checklists and to dos are not what God is calling me to. He is calling me to him and he knows the best way to get me to come. I’m sure it will involve other people, other ministries, other devotionals and other prayer groups in a variety of combinations over the course of my life. But when I look to my circumstances or other people first so that I can tell God what I need, that is when I run into trouble. It should be the other way around.
I’ve been studying Elijah’s life in the Old Testament because he is probably one of my favorite people. Mainly because he was crazy and didn’t care who knew it or thought it. In 1 Kings 19, he was running for his life and he was over it. He told God to just end his life because it wasn’t worth it. Then he slept. (Which is nice to know because that is one of my defense mechanisms too!) But then he was woken up by an angel and told to eat. So he did and then he went back to sleep. He probably thought he had eaten enough. But apparently he hadn’t because he was woken up again and told to “eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you” (v 7).
Elijah thought he knew what he needed – for his running days to be over. Elijah thought he knew how much he needed – but he was told to eat more. The reason we should look to God first, is because he knows where we are going. Other people don’t. God knew the journey Elijah was about to go on. He knew how much food he needed. “So Elijah got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai” (v8).
Like Elijah, when I look around, I see my circumstances. I see how tired I am. I see how over it I am. I see how unfair life can be. I see how the grass is greener. Yet like Elijah, I know ultimately, that God is the one who knows everything, including where I’m going and how long my journey is and what I actually need.
Whenever I look out first – at my circumstances, at other people – then the journey ahead will feel overwhelming, as if I will never have enough to make it and will be too much for me to handle too. And boy do I feel like it is when I do that. But instead, I need to seek God first, to listen and hear what he says I need for the journey. Then I won’t confuse my needs and wants. I won’t have as many distractions. And like Elijah, I can make the journey with only what I need from God: nothing more, nothing less – and we all know how I feel about traveling light!