I did it again! I slipped straight back into the pit of Facebook and internet news addiction. Wow. One would think that the few days of peace I enjoyed earlier when I cut back on them would have been enough to keep me hooked. It's the same thing with studying my Bible and with prayer. I get just enough of a soaking of the Holy Spirit to remember what it is like to feel like a person again, instead of a strife-filled block of fear and torturous condemnation and back I go into the world, embracing the nothingness it has to offer until the deep-seated lonliness of life without Christ drives me back to His fountain of living water. I'm like the rat on the proverbial wheel. I go and go and go and get nowhere until I concede that God has all the purpose in the world in His back pocket.
EVERY time I saturate myself with the 24/hour news cycle, I get waves of anxiety and depression that plow me under. I cannot focus on the good in life, so much of what's bad is clouding my vision. I guess I'm just really sensitive. I know that we are barrelling on toward the second coming. I see my nation sinking morally and fiscally. I know that people are hurting all around me. The burden of knowledge without any way to help is too much for me. Those who know me well understand that I carry people's burdens in my heart. Even folks I do not know.
God has made each one of us with a specific purpose in life. Our chosen path will wind us through the lives of many people. Some of these people are family. Many are not. These are the people we are to help and pour out our limited resources upon. These are our divine appointments. Yes, it is important to know what is going on in our community and in the world in case God is calling us to give in a larger fashion. However, most of what He calls us to is within our arms reach. If each of us blessed and focused on those He has put in our lives, this world would be a FAR different place.
This brings me to Facebook, that portal of both astounding good (MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS! MY COLLEGE BUDDIES!) and outright evil (absolute, stone-cold strangers commenting upon my life and choices). I will always be on Facebook, because it links me to people I love. People I had thought I had lost. Wonderful, priceless people I would not know were it not for the social medium. However, Facebook reinforces some deep-seated hurt. Old rejections resurface and are reinforced daily. Strange strangers who seep in through the cracks make horrible remarks and judge a life they've no part of. Waves of commentary upset or set my ship to sail on strange waters for hours. Facebook needs a smaller place in my day.
I guess the upshot of all of this thinking is that the internet, while a force for good, and an amazing resource for information, links us with too much data. It creates a constant noise in our minds, bombarding us with facts we don't even have time to process and leads to emotions that hamper our daily work. If you're like me, a housewife with an addiction to reading/news/information and social contact, you probably need to cut back on computer/ipad time.
EVERY time I saturate myself with the 24/hour news cycle, I get waves of anxiety and depression that plow me under. I cannot focus on the good in life, so much of what's bad is clouding my vision. I guess I'm just really sensitive. I know that we are barrelling on toward the second coming. I see my nation sinking morally and fiscally. I know that people are hurting all around me. The burden of knowledge without any way to help is too much for me. Those who know me well understand that I carry people's burdens in my heart. Even folks I do not know.
God has made each one of us with a specific purpose in life. Our chosen path will wind us through the lives of many people. Some of these people are family. Many are not. These are the people we are to help and pour out our limited resources upon. These are our divine appointments. Yes, it is important to know what is going on in our community and in the world in case God is calling us to give in a larger fashion. However, most of what He calls us to is within our arms reach. If each of us blessed and focused on those He has put in our lives, this world would be a FAR different place.
This brings me to Facebook, that portal of both astounding good (MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS! MY COLLEGE BUDDIES!) and outright evil (absolute, stone-cold strangers commenting upon my life and choices). I will always be on Facebook, because it links me to people I love. People I had thought I had lost. Wonderful, priceless people I would not know were it not for the social medium. However, Facebook reinforces some deep-seated hurt. Old rejections resurface and are reinforced daily. Strange strangers who seep in through the cracks make horrible remarks and judge a life they've no part of. Waves of commentary upset or set my ship to sail on strange waters for hours. Facebook needs a smaller place in my day.
I guess the upshot of all of this thinking is that the internet, while a force for good, and an amazing resource for information, links us with too much data. It creates a constant noise in our minds, bombarding us with facts we don't even have time to process and leads to emotions that hamper our daily work. If you're like me, a housewife with an addiction to reading/news/information and social contact, you probably need to cut back on computer/ipad time.
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