"7"-Month 4

This past January I decided to participate in "The 7 Experiment."  After reading Jen Hatmaker's book, "7," I knew that I was living a life of excess and wanted to learn how to fight against the need to have so much stuff.  In January, I chose 7 foods that I ate for the entire month (it was way harder than it sounds).  In February, I chose 7 articles of clothing to wear for the entire month (it was way more freeing than I thought it would be.  In March/April, I gave up 7 things in my house a day (I probably could have stood to give away way more than I actually did in the end).  This month, I have chosen 7 uses of Media that I am giving up...Facebook (outside of my work hours-use it for youth ministry), Twitter/Instagram, Television, My Smartphone (when I am with my family), Radio (in my car), The Internet (except work related and to blog), and Email after 5pm.  I wish that I could go cold turkey from all of it, but I figured it would be pretty hard to function as a Youth Pastor without most of it.

Based off of that list, you would think it would be pretty simple to do.  Just disconnect outside of my work hours, right?  I am only on day 9 and I am finding it a much bigger challenge than I thought it would be.  For starters, I miss the Today Show...Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, and Natalie Morales, they are my peeps!  Not only do I miss them, but I miss the news (well at least the first 30 minutes of the Today Show can be considered news...the rest is just pure entertainment and I miss that too.  I have started my morning the same way FOREVER.  I feel like a piece of me is missing.  Second, I feel incredibly challenged to put my smartphone down.  We didn't even have cell phones when I was a teenager and now mine is glued to me.  I pick it up, and set it down, and pick it up, and wonder what I am missing.  Usually, I am really not missing that much.   Third, driving my really sweet neon green Jeep Wrangler, WITHOUT RADIO, well, it's just lame.

Here is the biggest challenge that I have found these first 9 days.  It's not really missing my favorite television shows.  It's not unplugging from work for awhile.  It's not that I'm bored.  It's not even that I hate the silence. The biggest challenge for me is disconnecting from Social Media.  As I have spent time thinking about this the past few days, I have been amazed at how bad I want to know what is going on in other people's lives, and more importantly, how bad I want people to know what is going on in mine.  Just went for a Krumpe's donut run...tweet it.  Just had the best day ever with my amazing husband...Facebook status it.  Just made the best dinner ever...Instagram opp.  We are obsessed with connecting so that we can know and be known.

The greater reality of that statement is, we are so caught up in letting the world know what we are "doing," that we actually miss out on true and deep connection with each other.  Last Monday, during my day of solitude, as I sat on a bridge overlooking a creek, completely "unplugged," I felt a deep sense of connection with God.  This past Sunday, as I spent the day hanging out by the poolside (well, Biruk's baby poolside), with some incredibly friends, totally "unplugged," I felt a deep sense of connection to them.  Last night, as I hung out in the airport with 12 crazy teenagers, waiting to surprise one our youth workers who had just graduated from Seminary, totally unplugged, I felt a deep sense of connection with the students I have been called to serve.

This month is teaching me that while it is challenging for us to be "unplugged," doing so creates a space where deep and true connection is actually found.  Whether it is our connection with God or with each other, we need spaces where we can just be with each other.  Does it mean that at the end of this month that I am going to stop Tweeting, posting pics on Instagram, and updating my Facebook?  Is it possible, yes.  Is it probable?  No...have you seen how cute my kid is and my need to post everything about him to make sure that people know he is the cutest kid in the world?  What it does mean is that I am discovering that I long for moments where I feel deeply connected, and those happen most when I allow myself to be "unplugged."

I have such a long ways to go when it comes to learning to "unplug."  I find myself caught between a count down to my reunification with Matt, Savannah, and Natalie in 21 days, and an actual longing to make this month develop a habit that will far out last 30 days.  I hope that the next few weeks will provide open spaces where I feel and understand what deep connection looks like.  That is what I long for.