Meeting with your Phone

I would like to throw out a bit of encouragement as we begin our 'weekend'. Decide on a time when you are going to turn your phone off, and mean it. The 4th Commandment encourages us to rest from our work, with our family (and our livestock if you have any), and to enjoy the fact that God encourages us to rest - really oppressive this God... with his crazy rules, like "Take a day off"... :)

The first week I had my IPHONE (which I love, and you are allowed to judge me for not texting from) I let it ruin my day by checking my email as I walked back from the park with my girls. I got a bad email, and couldn't focus for the rest of the day thinking about how to reply (or not). Is it the phone's fault? No. It's my fault. So, I told my phone to stop "pushing" my email, and to only check it when I asked. The phone happily complied.

Yesterday at the zoo Caroline (Jasmine) said, "Is Aladdin on his phone?" We were at the zoo, and she was climbing on the enormous bug sculpture. So, I pulled my phone out to see if I had any emails. Caroline noticed I was no longer paying attention to her and mentioned it to me. I'm not calling this sin. I don't know if she cared at all. I am calling it a mistake. In 25 years I doubt I will think 'I wish I would have checked my email more' (insert texting for many of you). But I might regret not watching my strange, funny 3 year old, with her ever-present-tiara climbing on this enormous beetle, calling me Aladdin (Julia is Aboo the Monkey, Rachel is the non-existent Queen), forgetting she has to go to the bathroom, and talking non-stop about Rhinos.

Here is the part of the blog post where I could get into idols. I feel important when people email, it is a pleasant enough distraction to my anxiety and fear, I like having a small computer in my pocket...

But, the better reason to leave my phone in the house tomorrow (because for me Sunday is kind of a work day) is so that I am more intentional with my girls, so that I am less plugged into the Matrix, so that I can take deep breaths and not look for fulfillment in my job, friends, and list-serves. The better reason is to embrace a different rhythm to life than an IPHONE implies - one that includes a Sabbath.

Its just an encouragement: turn your phone off for a set amount of time this weekend. Decide not to check your email, or blogs, or facebook - for a set amount of time (The Jewish scholars would say 25 hours, beginning 18 minutes before sunset - 6:42 tonight - so turn the phone off at 6:24). If you have never done this before I would encourage you to plan your time without your phone, and just shoot for a few hours. Enjoy your weekend, see you Sunday.

-Matt Blazer