Wow! This television fast and cutback on internet time has proven more challenging than I ever imagined! It has been, however, very freeing as well. I feel like a real human being again, actually experiencing life versus just reading about it all day long. This simpler way of living has taken me back to my childhood, actually. In those good old days, children's programming was sparse, limited to certain times of day or days of the week. All of the other hours were filled with reading, using my imagination, playing outside. I have done a lot of reading, cross stitching and latch hooking and have been able to start my day with the new biblestudy on personal revival that I began with a friend a few days ago. Today I will work on my scrapbooks and try to get in a little writing, as well as setting my literal house in order. A couple of nights ago, Gary and I actually went out to see our friend, the albino doe. By the time we reached her, dusk was gathering fast, muting the landscape seemingly by the second. But we saw her! She glows white in the fading light. I could also make out the forms of a few of the naturally-colored members of her herd grazing around her.
There have been times over the past few days that I have been tempted to throw in the towel on the fast and click my set on! Every time, I thought of my sweet, committed Christian friend who I entered into a covenant with and walked away. I am going to do this thing! Taking the break from constant (I shoot for once a day, sometimes twice if I want to check in on a friend who is on the other side of the globe and is therefore asleep when I am on in the mornings) checking of Facebook has been liberating to a shocking degree. I was literally CHAINED to the comments and opinions of others, and they were pouring themselves into my life all day long. Now, I have more of an opportunity to allow Christ to pour into my life. I stand a better chance of hearing Him in the stillness.
I am a very fast and quite voracious reader of internet news. I am also an extremely tender-hearted person. I guess I was carrying the burdens for most of the world. Not reading news all day long has freed me from that and allowed me to try to begin focusing on the people who God has put in my orbit who I can actually have an impact on. There are always more of these people than you think, and God will always provide enough resources for you to help them without draining you to the point of death. I am enjoying a stillness of spirit, marked by waiting on the Lord. Gone is the incessant inner turmoil created by feasting on bad news (which I could do nothing about) and internalizing random Facebook comments others slung my way. My advice to you, friend, is TRY it! This kind of fast, or any fast which allows you to bring your life back into balance, simplifying it so that you can hone in on your PURPOSE in Christ is WORTH IT! Love to you all.
There have been times over the past few days that I have been tempted to throw in the towel on the fast and click my set on! Every time, I thought of my sweet, committed Christian friend who I entered into a covenant with and walked away. I am going to do this thing! Taking the break from constant (I shoot for once a day, sometimes twice if I want to check in on a friend who is on the other side of the globe and is therefore asleep when I am on in the mornings) checking of Facebook has been liberating to a shocking degree. I was literally CHAINED to the comments and opinions of others, and they were pouring themselves into my life all day long. Now, I have more of an opportunity to allow Christ to pour into my life. I stand a better chance of hearing Him in the stillness.
I am a very fast and quite voracious reader of internet news. I am also an extremely tender-hearted person. I guess I was carrying the burdens for most of the world. Not reading news all day long has freed me from that and allowed me to try to begin focusing on the people who God has put in my orbit who I can actually have an impact on. There are always more of these people than you think, and God will always provide enough resources for you to help them without draining you to the point of death. I am enjoying a stillness of spirit, marked by waiting on the Lord. Gone is the incessant inner turmoil created by feasting on bad news (which I could do nothing about) and internalizing random Facebook comments others slung my way. My advice to you, friend, is TRY it! This kind of fast, or any fast which allows you to bring your life back into balance, simplifying it so that you can hone in on your PURPOSE in Christ is WORTH IT! Love to you all.
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