I cancelled my blackberry internet service yesterday. For the last year I have been able to receive e-mails at any time of the day or night. I was told it would make me more productive, effective. It would save me time. No one talked about its impact on my soul and rhythm. Actually, it hasn’t worked for the last month and I realized how much I loved not having it. I loved not checking e-mails during my daughter’s soccer practice as I waited in the car. (She is in junior high and prefers that her ‘uncool’ Dad keep a very low profile). I loved not looking at it in traffic. I loved not looking at it in the office. If it was the time to check e-mail, I simply chose to look at it during work hours. If we are going to follow Jesus in the 21st century as leaders and model a contemplative life, we need to appropriate the grace to renounce all that keeps us from him. For some it is marriage, possessions, money, or position. For me it now includes my blackberry. I recognize the discipline and work I needed to NOT look at e-mails was tiring. I want to start work when I start, and surely do not want to do e-mail before I go to bed or when I wake up. I want God on in my thoughts and mind in my free moments, not ministry and work. We got rid of our TV in our home in 2000. We do have a DVD player and watch movies, but we never regretted that decision for a moment Might this be a larger issue than we realize for us and our walks with God?
26
Sep
