Photo Credit: edkohler via Compfight cc
Last week I tried to stay off of Facebook and other social media as much as possible in order to be more connected to those around me. It was harder than I thought. I never realized before how many times a day I “check in” to see what’s going on in the online world. It’s something I’d like to become more conscious of moving forward.
This week my focus is on where I get my truth. When I need an answer where are my primarily sources Too often it is easy to find our answers in news or entertainment media, even if those are really just distractions rather than answers. I’ll say right now that whether all TV watching falls under entertainment media, I don’t know. Not unlike what I did with limiting my Facebook interactions last week, I’m not going to give up all TV watching this week. My husband and I often watch something together in the evening, usually from Amazon Prime or the Roku channel on PBS. This is part of our joint downtime to cuddle on the couch and share something we enjoy. For that reason I’m not going to give that up necessarily. But I do plan to avoid any TV and news media during the day. So no talk radio when I’m driving in the car and no catching up on my TV shows on Hulu while the kids nap. That will be very hard for me.
I’m going to try and use that time to bring me back to my ultimate source of truth. I also want to give my self a chance to analyze how I feel emotionally when I remove myself from those influences. It’s possible it won’t affect me much at all. But then again, it just might. My husband, for example, periodically goes on news media fasts. He finds that his mental state and emotional well being are improved by doing this. I also avoid political things specifically if I find it makes me anxious. We try to find a balance between being well informed and being oversaturated.
In a culture where the latest news is available in an instant and within moments we can find 15 different opinions on a topic, it’s important to analyze where we get our truth. Not where we think we should get it, or say we get it, but where it really comes from. Because it’s easy to find someone who agrees with you out in the blogosphere, but that doesn’t make either of you right. So this week I want to focus on returning to the source of all truth, the word of God. I also want to focus on the godly relationships that I have built and remind myself that they are important resources for my spiritual growth. When I need an answer to a problem or struggle I need to look to scriptures or those important spirit-filled relationships to help me, not just throw a net out into web and see what I can drag up.
I challenge you this week to be conscious of how often you engage with news and entertainment media, and how they affect your attitudes and thoughts. Do those attitudes and thoughts line up with what the Bible has to say? Would we sooner read another blog opinion piece or speak to a spiritual mentor? These are the important questions I’ll be asking this week as I fast. Feel free to join me.
Restore My Heart, Thaw My Soul: Lent 2014 Week 1
Learning Intentional Silence and Better Chosen Words: Lent 2014 Week 2
