This summer, our church has been studying the book of Mark in a series called Defiance: Challenge the Norm. Today was the last lesson in the series, and provoked a lot of thoughts, and has encouraged me to challenge myself in a way I’ve been wanting to, but haven’t taken the 1st step towards yet. (you can watch the sermons or read the notes here)
My challenge, is not an easy one. At least not for me.
I shamefully admit that I am somewhat addicted to social networking. I am constantly plugged in. Refreshing facebook updates on my iPhone, Checking and browsing through my favorite blogs and link parties, and chatting with friends has become a terrible part of my day-to-day life. I feel like my phone is constantly in my hand. I probably waste so many hours “plugged -in”. I’m too afraid to look at it’s stored life history.
I also love to sleep. Well, I usually stay up late facebooking and playing sudoku (on my iPhone, of course), but I love to sleep in.
I admit, too, that I am crazy OCD. Painfully OCD, to the point that my floors have to be swept each day and the house has to look at least picked-up before I can leave it. Every single day during El’s first naptime I sweep. Usually 2-3 times a week I also mop. And at least 3 nights a week I sweep again. It’s bad. And I’m really trying to let go (at least somewhat) of the obsession.
As Elizabeth turned 1 last month, the pace of the year shook me. Everyone told me, “it goes by so fast”, but I never thought it would go that fast. I realize that pretty soon I’ll wish she were still here to make messes for me to clean and that I shouldn’t be so obsessed with it now. There will always be dirt, but there won’t always be a giggly li’l girl wanting to go “ring around the rosies” holding her Mommy’s pointer fingers. There will always be emails and people that I really don’t need to keep up with on line. But, there won’t always be tickles to give and snuggles to share.
So my challenge… is to
~ Wake up by 7:00a every day and get at least 1/2 an hour to myself in devotion before greeting the day. Before picking up the broom, before throwing together breakfast, before checking facebook I will open my Bible. I will thank Him for the day and get my mind prepared for the day. I figure this will help with my recent hot/cold issue, and also help the day to not be so stressful. I’m sure waking up leisurely in prayer and in His word will make for a better day than jumping out of the bed when the 2 monkeys I keep arrive here whining and ready to go.
~Unplug. Simple as that. Forbid myself to check facebook or my RSS feed until Elizabeth is napping or in bed for the night. And, I will tend to Etsy & it’s emails first. But I won’t check facebook or RSS until after that and only if the other things in the house are taken care of (bills, dinner, laundry, etc). I’ll leave my phone charging on the counter or plugged into the dock for music unless someone important calls or messages me. Like an actual home phone. Imagine that. To help me be reminded, I’m deleting my RSS app from my phone and will log out of facebook each time, so that when I go to log-in, I’m questioned whether I should or not. At night, when El’s in bed, I will only play on my phone/laptop if Andrew says it’s okay. I feel like both of us sit on opposite sides of the couch and play with our phones without having any clue what’s going on with the other person. I think this will be great for our marriage, too. I’m hoping I can convince him to unplug too.
~Truly savor each and every moment with my baby girl and my husband who works too hard. I will read to Elizabeth more. Dance with her more. Play “I’m gonna get you” more. I will snuggle on the couch with Andrew more (like the old days). I will lay in bed at night and talk about our dreams again.
And that’s it. For now. Next week, I will hopefully give you my great success story.
What should YOUR personal challenge be?
