Empty Nets
On creativity, striving, and the search for meaning
Recently, I have been reflecting on photography in the digital, hyper-connected world we live in. Honestly… it feels broken. I do not believe that I am alone in this, either. Not all, but many, have stopped seeing photographs as photographs, and instead see them as “content.”
Creativity suffers when everything becomes performance. If you have read earlier posts, you know that this is something I have struggled with, too. But the message continues to evolve and go even deeper. Thus, I continue writing about it.
Looking back at The Company you Keep, we talked about rivalry and ego, and how it manipulates the creative process and your peace. Going back to the very beginning, From Algorithm to Authenticity explains the experience matters more than output.
Recently, God pointed me to Ecclesiastes. If you have read this book, you know it is… well, direct and unsettling. But the message is clear, and it is more applicable now than ever.
It wrestles deeply with meaning, striving, ambition, and the temporary nature of worldly pursuits. ‘hevel,’ a word repeated throughout Ecclesiastes, translates to vapor, or smoke. Earthly pursuits are described as hevel. Like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands. Put more plainly, like trying to catch the wind.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that wisdom, wealth, work, and every earthly pursuit cannot ultimately fulfill us apart from God. We spend our time investing our energy and emotions into things that have no lasting meaning or significance.
EMPTY NETS
If you walked outside today and saw people trying to catch the wind with nets, what would you think? Probably think they are a little crazy, right? How could you ever possibly catch the wind?
Life is temporary. Fleeting. An enigma. Hevel. Like smoke, or the wind, it appears solid, but when you try to reach forward and grab it… there is nothing there. Life is beautiful, but it is also unpredictable.
The point of this is not to make you depressed, but it is to draw attention to all the ways we try to place meaning on our lives apart from God. We spend so much of our lives investing in things that are fleeting and incapable of carrying the lasting meaning we expect from them.
That is not to say that social media is worthless. Quite the opposite! It has value. I have made wonderful friendships through social media that I cherish deeply. However, our fixation on “content” and “growing a fanbase” has, in my opinion, distracted us from what really matters.
One of the major topics of Ecclesiastes is time. You can spend all your time chasing the wind… You can spend your whole life working and achieving, because you think that makes your life meaningful. Eventually, however, we must stop and realize that time is limited.
At some point, one must accept that “content” is not worth the story you are missing out on. Your life story, that is. In the end, it all comes back to time. Because if we spend our days chasing meaningless stats, numbers, and everything else, instead of enjoying creation for what it is, we have lost sight of what truly matters.
I sat with this realization for a long time recently. I have watched as my two young boys grow older by the day, understanding that I, too, am growing older as well. The moments, the memories, the time and energy spent chasing social media growth. Is that worth the exchange of time with them? Absolutely not.
That pointed me back to the real question. If it is not, then what is? A life lived faithfully, leaving behind meaningful fruit. A life focused on God. That is what matters. A life lived for Him. That is where we find meaning.
The photographs we take can become expressions of our God-given creativity. Not trophies through which we prove our worth, but gifts received and offered with gratitude. Not for clout. Not for “content.”
The quiet moments spent with God, working in His creation to draw nearer to Him.
That is what matters. Authentic intention.
IT IS DONE
I believe that, to some extent, there is a “need” to achieve today. Be the first to do something. A style, a thought, anything. Technology changes, culture changes, but the human heart still searches for meaning.
That meaning is found only when you are creating from the heart. With God at the center of it all, guided by the Holy Spirit. When we work from obedience and order, our lives follow the same path.
Ecclesiastes repeatedly uses the phrase “under the sun” to describe life as we experience it here on earth… limited, temporary, and beyond our control. Beneath all our apparent novelty, the same human patterns continue: striving, desiring, achieving, aging, dying, and eventually being forgotten. The answer is not found under the sun, here on earth. Rather, it is found in God.
Sure. We have developed technology. We have landed on the moon. We have done all these incredible things. But go climb a mountain and see if it cares. Time is the ultimate resource, and one that we so quickly squander.
Social media is a lot of the same. Ecclesiastes is not telling us that life is meaningless, that there is no purpose in striving to be the best that we can be. It is telling us that when we try to build meaning apart from God, or demand that temporary achievements give us lasting significance, we are left grasping at the wind. Empty nets.
So much of modern creative culture feels like this. We chase attention, recognition, validation, numbers, and performance, hoping that eventually it will satisfy something deeper within us. But no matter how much we achieve, the wind keeps slipping through the net.
LOOK UP, CHILD
Modern culture pushes us to spend our lives performing for temporary validation while neglecting our deeper purpose. A life lived for God. Chasing the wind… The deeper purpose is found in the beauty, relationships, and spiritual meaning God intended for us.
It is my hope that in sharing my internal reflections and thoughts that you might pause long enough to reflect on what truly matters. Social media has impacted society for good and for bad, but our fixation on it is dangerous.
Walk with God. Create from the heart. Spend time with those that you love. Share what you love. When we stop thinking about simply what is next, and think about eternity instead… with God… our lives take on an entirely new meaning.
The older I get, the more I realize that life is not measured in numbers, performance, or recognition. It is measured in faith. In presence. In the people we love and the moments we were fully awake enough to experience. In a life lived backwards, with the end in mind… when we meet God.
It was never about the numbers. It was about the purpose.
Perhaps that is what I have been searching for all along.
God bless.