Every morning I wake up, every night I go to bed. I'm checking Instagram. It's ridiculous how much control an app that consists of double taping pictures has over my life. "How many likes did it get, she has so many followers, should I put this picture up?" A conversation I think I literally have weekly with friends. We are surrounded by it constantly, we begin to compare and envy the lives of others by the 2 by 2 picture we see on our screen.
I read an article a while back, [http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/have-our-phones-changed-way-we-pray] and just recently read it again. It's entitled "Have Our Phones Changed the Way We Pray?" The title alone caught my attention as well as these quotes:
"As I integrate more and more social media into my daily routine, I find it increasingly difficult to clear my thoughts and focus on one subject."
"Are our phones and social media killing our patience? Are they changing our conversations with one another and God?"
How could I let myself spend more time scrolling through pictures than spending time and talking to the Creator of the universe. I constantly struggle with being patient in my quiet times and giving my full and focused attention to the Lord. My thoughts jump from thanking Him and praying to seek His face to wondering what was in that picture, what I'm going to do today, what happened yesterday, and anything but the scripture I'm reading. In the article there was an example of where God challenges Elijah to resist distractions and to seek out His gentle whisper.
[1 Kings 19:11-13]
The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Just like Elijah's distractions of mountains, wind, earthquakes and fires I too find myself constantly trying to run from distractions of comparison and envy of others in order to fully focus on the King. It's exhausting. To know that when I let my mind continuously wander, I'm missing out on hearing the gentle whisper of a God who seeks me day in and day out.
So...
On Friday I decided to delete Instagram for a week- the fact that this is going to be such a big challenge for me is honestly somewhat embarrassing. Instead of rolling over in the morning and refreshing the feed of pictures, I pray. I pick certain people the night before and that morning I pray for them before I start my day. In just two days I have already noticed a difference in my conversations and spending time with other people as well as my time with Jesus. I'm not distracted when I'm spending time with my friends, I know that I'm fully listening to their stories and anything they have to talk about. I am actually being intentional in the time spent with my friends instead of constantly looking down at my phone. My quiet times are so much sweeter. I'm not rushing through so that I can pull out my phone and look to see what people are up to. I'm so much more focused in on the truth I'm reading and just being still in soaking up every bit of what the Lord is pouring into me and pouring right back into Him.
My point in this isn't that Instagram and social media are a good or bad thing, it's that I for one need a lot less of it in my life. My hope is that by the end of the week, I can learn to limit the amount of time I spend on it and focus more on the gentle whisper of the Lord.
