Made For More
While I hate to admit it, my average daily screen time this past week was 4 hours and 58 minutes a day. I can give you ten great reasons as to why it’s so high - but for word count purposes - I’ll give you three. First, I am connecting with friends and family via text and FaceTime because I live far from every one of them. Second, I spend time looking through Pinterest because we are doing so. many. house. projects. and I need inspo and tutorials. Third, I am Googling recipes because my husband and I both work fully remote from home which means I am - in addition to my 9-5 work day - a cafeteria lady and I produce three healthy, vibrant meals a day (I love to cook so it’s not a complaint).
On average, I am staring at my iPhone screen nearly five hours a day seeking to connect, improve, and create - all good things. What startled me the other day is how little I stare in the mirror at myself - maybe seven minutes total each day between washing hands, brushing my teeth and washing my face.
This realization provoked a train of thought that has seriously impacted me for 2023.
How often am I taking the time to look within myself and consider my thoughts, my feelings, and where I am at in my day/week/life? Putting down my phone, quieting the distractions and asking myself, “Am I content in life? If not, what might be the root cause of this feeling?”
I think that connecting with friends and family, making healthy meals, and doing home improvement projects is important and enhances my life BUT are these things bringing MORE to my life or are they just maintaining me?
“Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3)
Setting my heart and mind on things above practically means focusing and concentrating on God. By paying attention to the source of life, out of me “will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
Do you want more or are you okay with just maintaining your life as is?
Are you content with just meeting expectations or do you want to affect meaningful moments?
Create a time to reflect and ask yourself some practical questions.
Do I enjoy my life? What parts bring me anxiety?
Are my day in and day out actions putting me on a trajectory that is upward or a downward spiral?
What’s the internal motivation behind my actions or am I getting through life because everything feels like an external obligation?
After you have taken the time to truly reflect on these questions, what solutions come to you? Maybe it’s time to put down a bad habit. Maybe it's time to say sorry to someone. Maybe it’s time to remove yourself from an unhealthy situation.
I encourage you to put the phone down and to take a peek at what is working and what is not in your life. This introspective time will prove helpful in determining the direction you want to go which will solidify your destination.
Look up your screen time average. Imagine if you spent that amount of time focusing on God and things above. I know you would go from living in survival mode to walking in the significant identity Christ has for you.