1) For lent I drastically reduced my allotted online time each day. This is a habit I hope will extend far past Lent as it has been very fruitful for me, my prayer life, and my family! Not to mention the house is a little cleaner, too. I do not allow myself to get on the computer in the morning until I've spent time in prayer and unhurried meditation. I may get on just before dinner for a few minutes, but otherwise it waits until after the children go to bed and after my own night prayers are finished. If my husband is home, the computer time gets bumped even more. Keeping my computer off for most of the day has helped me to keep my priorities straight. I also find it easier to give undivided and undistracted attention to my children- to really soak up my time with them, instead of hurrying through reading them a book just so I can get back to my computer.
2) I went away for 4 days on a lovely Ignatian Spiritual Exercises (a silent retreat)...which meant I needed several days to prepare myself and my family for my departure, and about a week to recover my family who missed me while I was away.
3) Just when I thought I'd get a chance to blog, I was called as a doula for two births last week! One was on Wednesday, the other on Saturday. Both were amazing and wonderful experiences that left me praising God for the miracle of human life and of the birth process! I'm expecting another birth anytime this week. That will complete my 3 certification births, and I will be ready for the break to welcome our own bouncing baby in May. My children have loved hearing about each birth and seeing pictures of the baby whose birth I was blessed to witness.
So my online presence may have diminished, but my prayer life is stronger, my family feels cared for, my Labor Doula training is done, and my marriage has had a lot of quality nurturing time in the evenings when we're both home.
Please pray for me that I may continue to put God, and my service of Him through serving others, FIRST above online time and distractions, every day of my life!
Pray that I may learn the delicate balance of appropriate use of online time...to use it always for furthering Christ's Kingdom in some way, and never for my own personal laziness or avoidance of duties. Christ has a mission for me, my husband, and our family, and unless I arm myself with plenty of prayer and practice growing in virtue in my daily home life, I will surely fail.
I hear you, sister. This is a constant, desperately hard struggle for me.
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