Lost in the Clicking

For several years now, I've taking a break from the Internet during Lent.  By that, I mean I do not get online to read blogs, check message boards, and read the latest news.  The Internet is strictly used for checking emails, weather reports and any other site necessary to make our household run smoothly.

 

I've found this Lenten fast to be a wonderful thing for me in so many ways. 

• It has helped me to cut off my "addictions" to message boards.  The first year I did this, I returned to the message boards after Lent and I realized what a drain the boards were to me. Many were not life giving at all.  I had gotten lost in all of the politics before the fast.  I could hardly believe it. 

 

• The internet fast has helped me to take inventory on my life. I have more time to read spititual books and to seek answers to questions I pose to myself.  What am I doing in my life that is right?  What needs to be corrected?  Where does this time all fit into God's plan for me? 

 

• It helps me to prioritize again what is wasting my time. I've found that one link leads to another and so on.  I often get lost in the clicking. Before I know it, I've spent one hour online and never got anything accomplished online that I had planned to do.

 

• It helps me reconnect to nature.  During the winter months, it is so cold and icy that one can only be outside for a short time.  It's easier to spend time online instead of outside.  With Lent comes the hope for spring and all joy that it brings.  Yard work gets done. Soil gets turned.

 

As I write this, it sounds like giving up the Internet is really not a sacrifice but a normal course of change from one liturgical season to the next.  Perhaps it is.  I wasn't going to give up the Internet this year.  I really feel like I have a better grip on my Internet usage.  Yet, I keep sensing this is where I'm being called to sacrifice my time.  Maybe my usage isn't as low as I thought? Maybe I could do better?  God has something He wants me to learn. I need to sit and listen.