Convenience or Crutch?

My daughter, Jenna, attends a small Christian College in Georgia. As a general thumb, they are a very discipleship and charachter driven school. Most of the time, I am their biggest fan and fully celebrate the activities they create to help students grow in their relationship to the Lord and within themselves. However, each year, during the month of January, they conduct a week long "media fast." Over the course of 5-7 days, they ask their students to abstain from using their cell phones, computers, tablets, TV's and any other media or technology gadget. Sounds good right? WRONG! I say that because during this week it means that I can't communicate with my girl which makes this empty-nesting momma unhappy. But just the other day, I experienced a God lesson that has encouraged me to get over myself and be more supportive of their initiative. Here's what happened....

I had stopped into my office to do a little catch up work on my day off. It was quiet and I was fully engaged in what I was doing until I heard the thunder. When I looked out my office window I realized that several hours had passed and it was pitch black outside for that early in the evening, clearly indicating that a storm was coming. I had made plans to get a mani/pani for later that afternoon and I wanted to get there before the rain rolled in. So, I quickly shut down my computer, grabbed my purse and made a b-line for my car. It was only after I had checked in at the salon and went to pull out my phone that I realized "to my horror" that I had left it on my desk.

For two hours, I went without my phone. 2! two! TWO! Any way you spell it, it was a long 2 hours. The first hour was the hardest. I wondered who might be trying to reach me. I wondered about the thoughts in my head and if I would remember them until I got to my note taking app. I wondered if I had actually left it on my desk or if I had dropped it somewhere along the way. And even though the salon had three TV's on to entertain me and I had a friend sitting beside me, I was filled with a measure of anxiety. I needed my phone beside me "just in case" and the fact that it wasn't available unnerved me. Have you been there?

Now, in retrospect, I'll be honest with you, my reaction surprised me. More than just a little. I mean, I like my phone and all, but I would have never of guessed that I would have had that strong of an internal response. After all, I rarely buy accessories for it other than a case and I'm not religious about getting the latest upgrade. In fact, if you asked me, I would have told you that I could have easily layed it down. So, when my phone was safely back in my hand, I pondered my response and that's when I relized what my daughter's school was trying to accomplish. You see they were trying to make empty nesting  momma's suffer any more than they were trying to make their students suffer. I know this because they didn't just ask them to fast media, they challenged them to fast, then ask themselves some hard questions, the biggest of which was this....Are your devices a convenience or are they a crutch? 

Think about it, how often do we go to dinner with soneone and barely engage in conversation because we are so busy looking at our phones? How often do we pull out our devices at red lights instead of listening to the radio  or watching the birds fly by. How often do we turn on the TV as soon as we get home to numb away the day rather than talking to God or our loved ones? 

The reality is that our media devices do bring us a significant measure of conveneniece and when used in the right way can bring us a lot of enjoyment. In this day and age, it's a needed part of our lives. But here's the rub...for many of us, what was meant to be for our good has become a snare that has the potentional of robbing us from real life moments with real life people. And if we are not careful, the pendulum can swing too far from what is good and lead us to a place of unhealthy dependence. 

Whether we like it or not, one of the ways that we determine if we are out of balance in any area of our life is to experience a brief period of time without that object. My lesson, on that day, came in the form of media, but in fact, the objects of our affection can be widespread to include food, credit cards, movies, chocolate, sports, coffee, relationships and just about anything else you can think of.

Knowing this, the Apostle Paul writes to us in 1 Corinthians 6:12 and reminds us that we have the right to do anything, but not everything is beneficial. He goes on to say that while we have the right to do anything, we should be careful not to be mastered by anything. And anything that we struggle to lay down, even for a few hours, is revealing our need to do exactly that....Lay it down; at least for a little while.

I'm going to be paying more attention to things like this in my life. What about you? Is there an area of your life where you too might need God to reveal your heart? Ask Him to show you any area where you might be holding on a little too tight. He will. He's faithful like that!