I used to be obsessed with the numbers.
- I would fanatically insert Google Analytics on every one of my websites, then check the number of pages views every day.
- I would visit Feedburner every hour to see if there was a bump in new subscribers to my podcast feed.
- I would sit back with a smug on my face as I watched the number of my followers increase on Twitter by the hundreds each week.
- I marveled at the number of people requesting my friendship on Facebook. I still have over 700 pending friend requests.
But sadly, all the friends, followers and page views left me feeling empty.
Thousands of followers, hundreds of friends, tens of thousands of page views, could no longer satisfy the emptiness I felt.
Sure, people would recognize me at events. It felt nice when someone would say:
“Wait a minute? You’re THE Leesa Barnes
Great for ego, but after the wonderment wore off, we stood there like we were strangers sharing an elevator. That type of silence where you feel like you should say something because it’s only the 2 of you standing, but then, you don’t because it would be too weird. Too intimate.
And that’s what each connection lacked – the intimacy.
Now, I’m not speaking about romantic or sexual intimacy. Instead, I’m referring to the intimacy that’s shared between people who have made a profound connection with each other. The numbers also robs us of true intimacy with God because we trust what we see in front of us instead of putting our faith in the One who created us.
King David erroneously relied on the numbers to tell him how many could serve in his army. He told his general, Joab, to go out and count the fighting men in Israel. Joab hesitated. He asked the King, his uncle, whether it was a good idea to do a census. But David insisted (1 Chronicles 21:1-6).
It took Joab 9-months and 20 days to complete the census (2 Samuel 23:8). And when he told King David there were 1.3-million men who could serve, King David immediately felt guilty. And of course, God wasn’t pleased. So, He sent a plague that killed 70,000 people (2 Samuel 23:15-16).
At first, I was confused why God was so upset with David. And then it hit me:
King David put his faith in the numbers which robbed him of true his intimacy with God.
So, I started the numbers detox.
- I dropped my Facebook friends from 1100 to 760. I want to get down to 500.
- I started culling my Twitter list. It’s more difficult to get rid of people on Twitter because you have to do it one by one and I haven’t found the tool where I can chop in one fell swoop.
- I no longer religiously check page views in Google Analytics or subscribers in Feedburner.
The noise is gone.
I feel lighter, more boyant and much more eager to see what my friends are up to.
Building professional intimacy one person at a time.
