This morning we gathered our things and went outside to enjoy the coolness of a rare 75 degree summer morning! We drained and cleaned the pool from the storm last night and set it back up for the little ones. After breakfast, while the pool was filling, I suggested that we do Bible Study together. Something that is not foreign to my family, but, like many of us, we get busy and put it on the back burner and never get back to actually doing it.
Cassie whined, "Moooooooom. Why do we have to do Bible Study?" I thought about this for a second, you have to be quick to answer little ones or they move on and become completely uninterested in your answers. So, I quickly formed my response. I picked up my iPhone and waved it at my precious little girl. I asked her "how much time do we spend every day on our phones, tablets, and laptops?" The look in her eyes told me she knew where this was going and, for a 6 year old, I was pretty impressed. "A LOT!" she exclaimed. Then I picked up a Bible and waved it.... I didn't even have to pose the question. She looked at me and kind of stared and then, after a long pause, she whispered... "none." We sat in silence for a minute and let that sink in a bit.
I said to her, "God expects us to worship him and work to become closer to him in prayer in study everyday, not just on the Sabbath. He commands us to observe the Sabbath and, yes, it is a day dedicated to God, but it is not the only day we should be dedicated to God." I definitely had her attention on this subject.
I went on....
"We are to put God's Word in our minds and in our hearts, how can we do this?"
"By studying," she responded. "Right! So, we need to do this daily to keep it in our hearts and minds daily, correct?" "YES! she cried. I picked the iPhone up again and asked her something pretty important, "How much of the this? of the world? are we feeding into our minds every day?" Her little eyes got very big and she said "ALL DAY MAMA!" and then looked sad. "that's right baby," I replied, "we spend all day feeding the world into our hearts and minds, but almost none of it feeding the Word into our hearts and minds."
"Mama?" "Yes, Baby" .... "Can we spend some time putting God's Word into our hearts and minds before we swim in the pool?" "ABSOLUTELY, Baby girl, ABSOLUTELY!!!!"
Then we proceeded to have one of the best Bible Studies we've had in awhile. They were both quite attentive, read Scripture and asked questions to try to understand. They didn't mention the pool until I informed them it was full enough to swim.
After they ran and jumped in, I looked down at my iPhone. Something that's been nagging at the back of my mind came rushing forward........ delete it! So, I did. I deleted ALL social media from iPhone which, I think, then defeats the purpose of having an iPhone. I am now disconnected from the world. I have pulled the plug. I realize that I am not the first nor will I be the last person to do this, but I hope it helps others consider doing the same.
My Facebook posts from the early years of Facebook consisted of the days activities that I shared at the end of the day on the computer. I'm going back to living life FIRST and then, if I think of it, I'll get on Facebook for a bit and share. But, if I don't...... it's not the end of the world.
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