Denying Self-the Computer.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself daily and follow me." Luke 9:23

I have really been thinking a lot lately, being hurt and all, and I really have to give God the praise in this injury thing. He has been faithful to show me some areas of my life that need to bring Him glory. Sin is a nasty thing and it separates me from my Father. He wants all of me and so I must deny myself daily and follow Him.

I am a googler! I find it fabulous that I can search anything and everything with little effort. One click and I am there. I also find Facebook fascinating! All of my friends,acquaintances, family, friends of friends, ALL in one pocket. Blogs are glorious! I can read and keep up with others daily or get recipes, new homeschooling ideas, see pictures of my friends who are far away. It is all awesome! And all together time-consuming. I have found that I can spend hours each week doing all of the above. I can look around at the end of my day and think, "What have I done today?" This is an area that needs a revamp. I have set some rules for myself that I feel are very fair and attainable.

#1- Computer is for the morning (before the kids get out of bed)
#2-It must then be unplugged (its a laptop) and stored out of sight.

Yesterday I tried it and it worked great! Out of sight-out of mind. Anything that I wanted to research on the computer, I examined, evaluated and decided that it could wait. (Yesterday's thing was PX90) So, I jotted it down on a sticky note and put it away to be searched out the next morning. This is just one more step toward being a less distracted human throughout the day. Computers are fabulous but when it becomes my master and my major source of to-do during the day-then I have missed the boat. Also, knowing I have a limited time on it during the day makes me really decide what is important and what is not. No senseless googling. Most of the time, I bet, what I decided, at first, to google, isn't even worth the jot down on the sticky note if I just think about it for a while. Now, if something is urgent and I must look up the phone number to a doctor or something, I will go and get it, but even then, I must be careful not to fall prey to the distractions there might be.
I had a great day yesterday! I felt much more productive and I really spent time talking to my kids and engaging them in conversation. This may seem small and ridiculous but I promise the amount of time I spend on my computer is no small matter and I know God wants to bring even this area of my life under His loving control, for my good.

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself daily and follow me." Luke 9:23