My Social Media-less Life

One of the things the Lord has been teaching me this year is the importance of Sabbath in my life. My Sabbaths usually consist of turning off my phone, putting it in the downstairs bedroom Friday night after church, making banana bread every other week (when I have the ripe bananas from a client-friend), going for a walk, studying some new subject in the Bible, reading a fiction book, hanging out with my roommate and right about at the 24-hour mark (or right before I go to bed), I’ll go get my phone and turn it on so I can keep my Duolingo streak alive. And then my phone immediately goes into a Focus and I put it back down and go to bed.

They have been glorious. This past Sabbath was my favorite one so far. As I learn what exactly “Sabbath” means and what it might look like for a 21st-century American single woman with a roommate in the house who doesn’t strictly do “Sabbath”, it seems to become more fun. My conversations with the Lord throughout the week are more open, I feel less hurried in my workweek… it’s so neat. Even church this past Sunday was different, in a good way.

Now, I know I’ve tried “Sabbathing” before, but I realized I was doing it in my own way and not in the way the Lord wanted me to.

The biggest ask was always “Turn off your phone.”

Being a 21st-century American single woman in a city with friends who do rely on my ability to be available at a moment’s notice… this was the hardest one for me to get over.

It started with the Lord giving me a guide on what to say to those friends before the day came so if I was ever needed, they would know how to reach me. (The “living with a roommate who doesn’t strictly do ‘Sabbath’” quip was very helpful with the “if you need me, reach her” spiel)

And another thing the Lord also reminded me was that if I don’t start now, I’ll never be able to. That comment gave me pause.

When I tried in 2020 to do Sabbath, I treated it much like many people treat fasting. I didn’t tell a lot of people (really only 3 people knew and none of them were friends that rely on my drop-of-the-hat availability for life reasons), I kept my phone on but on Do Not Disturb, I listened to music most of the day and quickly burned out just from trying not to touch my phone that was actively pumping noise into my head. I appreciate that time for what it taught me about my stab at Sabbath without the Lord… but that was basically just a day off.

When the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer came out in 2019, well that’s what fueled my desire to do Sabbath in 2020. But I didn’t actually consume the book (I listened to the audiobook) until a couple weeks ago.

Fun fact! Reading a book is very different than knowing what the book is about.

Reading the book gave me the tools I had been missing to really slow down and actually enjoy… everything. The Lord, creation, my days, even and especially my Sabbaths.

Despite the fact that my mom and I are in our last month (!!!!) of cleaning houses and we are still expedient about cleaning them, I am not in a hurry to get there. Because I know we will still be done about the same time we always get done. In fact, I’ve noticed that even though we start later, we tend to talk a little less at the houses (and more on the drives) and that’s why we get done about the same time. I think it’s great. We don’t feel so stressed… or at least I don’t. I can’t speak for my mom… she has a lot to do before work with a husband, 4 dogs and 2 cats so… it might be different.

But if I say I’m not in a hurry, I’m really not. Things will get done when they’re done and all will be well.

I’ve noticed that attitude has started to carry over into my lack of knowing exactly what I’m going to be doing once I quit cleaning houses. Even though I don’t know if I’ll actually make enough money just driving (because I will need to set aside funds every week specifically for upkeep of my car), I know that it’ll work out. Worry is another form of hurry in this case and I don’t need that in my life.

My car has even started to act up lately and while I am realizing that even after getting it looked at, it’s still having issues and that it’s likely spiritual… I’m not worried about it. The car is under my care and I am under the Lord’s care and in this Kingdom, we don’t worry about anything.

Giving the Lord a whole day has helped to put the rest of the week into perspective and because of that, I feel more secure in the other six days.

The Kingdom Way is so wild, you guys. I love it.

(End note: I will begin regular weekly blogs on Tuesday evenings! This one is releasing on Monday because I needed to get the habit started back up and have been wanting to write about this since Saturday. 😛 )