Tomorrow we start school. School... the regular life, the routine, the mundane. My girls aren't overly excited. They don't hate school, but they love summer. I understand that love of summer. What's not to love (other than mosquitoes)? The girls went on a missions trip, went swimming, visited friends, enjoyed cookouts, and got to be lazy a lot more often than the rest of the year. The routine, the mundane... it can get B-O-R-I-N-G!
As an adult, I feel it. I feel an urgency in my spirit to DO something, to live differently. I blogged about this the other day in keep treading water or swim. Life is changing, and I feel God wanting me to live more intentionally, more in the moment, and more simply. I get rid of some excess clutter. I long for family times with children that are growing way too fast. I have the urge to make memories and have stories to tell of adventures, instead of stuff cluttering up everything.
Last night I had a little accident. I did something I know could be costly, but I had done it a hundred times before without issue. I take a bath in the evenings often. I often have insomnia and the bath will relax me so I sleep better. I often read in the tub. I have been trying to read real books in the evening, because I have seen research that reading on devices, such as phones or tablets, can mess with the release of melatonin and make insomnia worse. However, I was in the middle of articles online and decided to read them in the tub instead of searching for a paper book. As you can guess, the results didn't go as planned. It's ironic to be reading about ideas for simplifying life online, only to accidentally knock your brand new smartphone into the bath tub.
I took it out and immediately dried it off and powered it down. I have had it off all day. I am praying it works... but I am having doubts. I will probably have to pay a large deductible. So... I haven't made my life simpler financially. And yet, all day, as I reached for the phone, and it wasn't there, I would feel that tinge of loss. But... I noticed I wasn't distracted. I took my nephew outside to play at the end of a church dinner... and I played with him! I didn't just supervise his play, while mostly looking at my phone. I watched a movie after church with my family, and I actually watched it! I wasn't half-watching while playing Candy Crush. All day I kept thinking of the message the pastor had preached today.
The pastor today was preaching on prayer. I was taking notes and enjoying the message. Then, he said something that gave me one of those moments of pause... those moments when you just know that God was sending a message just for you. He said, "Devotion to prayer takes time and should be done daily. It should be done because life is hard and we need Him to walk through it with us. It should be done because God is real. Time with Him transforms us. Finally, we should be devoted to prayer because we have a destiny. There is a purpose in your life, even when it feels mundane. Life can be mundane, with ups and downs breaking the mundane moments occasionally. We are all bought into the world 'for such a time as this.' These such a time as this moments can happen unexpectedly."
Do we miss those "such a time as this" moments because we are distracted?
Some of my dreams and plans, for simplifying life, for living in the moment, are so I don't miss those "such a time as this" moments. Decluttering, scaling back are all so that I am not so distracted that I miss the life and the plans God has for me.
Elizabeth George wrote something that stayed with me these last few months. She said, "Don't major in the minors." What is most important?
I was reading through my girls' homeschool curriculum recently and came across a teaching on choices. In the teaching a grandfather was talking about what he would do differently if he could go back in time. He stated that he would have found more quiet places. Sometimes people can get in the way of good thinking. As long as we're always around talk and busy activities, we are likely to be involved with immediate events rather than taking the time to reflect on where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going in life. There are always things, people, and activities that keep me involved in things and distract me from God. Anything that separates me from fellowship with God is bad. Some things could be just distractions; others are sin.
I'll be honest... I probably won't be giving up my smartphone. A forced fast from it is challenging, and I miss it. However, I know God has lessons in this. Other than to keep my phone away from the tub, I'm sure He wants to show me that getting rid of clutter is only one step in the process of simplifying. Simplifying the distractions that keep me from Him might be another. I use my smartphone for many things. I'm wondering if I have taken it from useful tool to something almost as an idol. Isn't an idol anything that takes the place of God? Isn't my phone a distraction many times from God?
I'm expecting the lessons to be difficult.
But... I'm ready to learn them.
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