Photo Credit: SalFalko via Compfight cc
Last week, I focused on the way I use my words, especially when interacting with my children. It wasn’t easy and I know I still failed in many ways. But the biggest success was my newfound awareness. I’ve definitely become more conscious of how I speak to my children and the words I use in our interactions.
As I begin the third week of Lent my focus will be on fasting from personal communications media. Personal communications media, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, texting, email, etc. is central to our culture. I fought being involved in it for a long time and I will say that I do find that I can better keep tabs on how my friends and family are doing through social media. That being said, while it is great for dispersing information, social media does not form or maintain relationships on its own; but it can be a tool. However, this week I am going to try and minimize my social media interactions. I will still be blogging and answering blog comments; but I will limit myself to one short period each day. My blog posts will still automatically be posted to Facebook but I will be trying to personally avoid logging in. I will do the same with email.
I’m going to try and divest myself of the feeling that if I step away from Facebook I’ll miss something important. Because I might; but that’s OK. Instead I’m going to try and devote more time to the real people in my life. Give more undivided and undistracted attention to my children and husband. Perhaps actually arrange to see a few friends rather than just trade online messages.
I want to reflect on how I allow technology to affect my relationship with my family. It’s easy to use Facebook or my blog feed as a way of escaping from the difficulties in my daily life. When I go to social media looking for answers or significance I should be going to Jesus instead.
In many ways, I wish I could go totally cold turkey this week, but I have obligations that require me to at least keep a minor presence. But I am really going to make a concentrated effort to avoid letting my online work eek into my daily life, especially my family interactions.
Restore My Heart, Thaw My Soul: Lent 2014 Week 1
Learning Intentional Silence and Better Chosen Words: Lent 2014 Week 2
