Social Media Fasting - because we want to care what God "likes" more than man
/Fasting for 40 days is proving much more complex than I had imagined. When we began this fast I expected to be grumpy, slow and short tempered for the first four days, I even anticipated a Spiritual awakening on the otherside of the fog. What I did not expect, however, were the layers God would start peeling back. All I did was give up sugar, and suddenly He started telling me how He wanted it all.
And so it is with great trepidation (I am not being dramatic one bit) that I publicly confess: Starting this morning I will be fasting from all social media until I have had ample time with the Lord in prayer and in His Word.
The tendency for me when I am busy is to read a quick devotional and say a prayer in the shower, then move into the rest of my day. In and of itself that doesn't sound so awful, but then I recognized how much time I was able to extract from my busy schedule to check in with the "friends" who fill my social media threads. (Does this resonate with anyone else?)
Also, during the hours from dinner to the boys' bedtime I will plug my phone into the wall, that I might plug into those life-giving, flesh-and-blood relationships.
I was so diligent to set boundaries on my phone time when my children were little. I barely knew it was there. Then again, it wasn't very smart back in the day. But somehow in the past year or two, I've been wooed by Siri's intelligence and constancy. However, with her always standing at the ready, I've not sought The Lord to fill my days with His omnipotence - His always present nearness - His constancy.
Now here's the kicker, my phone is possibly more addictive than sugar - and definitely stronger than the spiritual pull to know what the Lord of heaven and earth thinks in the early morning moments of dawn. But His is the opinion I want to "like" most of all.
So again I ask the question:
Join me?
I'm not asking for you to put down your phone all day long - just to put some healthy boundaries in place that you might draw near to the Lord for His filling during our forty day fast. So often we simply transfer our addictions from one object of our affection to another, never fully turning to Him though we fast.
If there is anything getting in the way of you returning to God, feasting on Him, abiding in Him... then cut it off and cast it far away.
Join me?
Won't you?
Join me?
Social Media Fasting
(If you are just joining us in this forty day fast series - click here to start at the beginning. The guidelines, links to posts and scriptures are all listed there - then put down your phone and learn to abide... Join us?)