My Fast from Facebook

Hi everyone!  I hope that your Monday has been a good one.  Ours has been excellent.

A few weeks ago our new pastor announced that we would be having an important meeting at our church tonight regarding our church’s vision for the future, and he asked that we spend the day fasting and praying.  At first I thought, “Fast?  I can’t go a day without eating!  And keep up with these kids?  I will faint from exhaustion.  No way!”  Then he went on to say that we could fast from anything that takes up a lot of our time or thought during the day.  I knew immediately what I would have to fast from: Facebook.

I didn’t really want to do it.  I tried to think of something else to fast from, but my mind kept coming back to Facebook.  So I did it.  And my life has been tremendously improved.  Here’s what I learned today:

1. My mornings are much more calm without Facebook.   Normally I grab my phone when I get out of bed in the morning and look at Facebook while I am brushing my teeth, making coffee, and feeding the animals.  It is very hard to do all of these things with a phone in my hand.  I like to answer any messages, comments, tags, etc. right away, and also get caught up on all of my night-owl friends statuses.

Really, who do I think I am, anyway?  I am a stay-at-home mom.  No one is sending me any super-important messages or tagging me in anything urgent.  The only people who I really am imperative to are Charlie and Maddie, who can’t write, and Jason, who  is laying next to me in bed in the mornings, so if there is anything important for him to tell me about the day he will just tell me.

As far as getting caught up on everyone’s statuses, I realized today that I just don’t care about what people post in the middle of the night.  It is usually pointless.

Without my phone in hand this morning, I had a great start to the day.  Time usually spent mindlessly scrolling through Facebook was spent in prayer, and it was wonderful.  It was peaceful and made me realize that those few quiet minutes alone in the morning are a gift from God, and I need to treat them as such.

2. I did not feel out of touch with the world.  I was expecting that I would feel out of touch all day, that I was missing out.  I was really surprised to find that I did not feel this way.  Instead, I felt liberated, like I was bucking a societal standard.  I did not know that I am such a rebel!

3. I really was a little out of touch.  I found out tonight when I finally checked my Facebook that I was actually a little out of touch!  I had a luncheon at my house today for the ladies in a Bible Study that I am a part of, and several of them had sent me messages about the luncheon.  Thankfully none of the messages were asking for directions, mostly just saying they would or would not make it.

This did make me realize that, while there are some bad sides to Facebook, there are also some good sides.  It is a wonderful means of communication.

4.  Facebook steals me from my family and my home.  It was very nice today to give my full attention to my children and my home.  I realized today that I am in a terrible habit of checking Facebook A LOT!  I do it while I am cleaning, while I am talking to Charlie and Maddie (isn’t that rude?), while we are eating (again, rude) and just A LOT!  This must stop, and it absolutely will.

5. Facebook steals me from God.  Following my pastor’s instructions, every time I thought about using Facebook, I prayed instead.  Guys, I have had such clarity and purpose today.  God has really spoken to me, and I fully understand that I felt his presence today because I purposefully chose to be in it.

 

I guess that everyone has their own personal “Facebook,” something that takes up a lot of their time or energy with no real outcome.  Something that just steals their joy and their life away.

I am not saying that I am going to quit using Facebook, because I do see it as an important tool. I love keeping up with far away friends and family. I love the political debates with my sister.  I can say, however, that it is going to become less of a fixture in my life.
Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5: 16-17