goodbye. I can't say I'll miss you.

I've done it. I've taken the plunge, stepped out of my comfort zone, left behind the norm (well, that's nothing new), walked away from the time eater, and have officially taken back a small slice of my privacy! What did I do, you may ask? For some time now, I've had a conviction...a heavy conviction and one that I was content to justify not obeying. How could I do that?! I know, but I did, I justified away the voice of He who loves me more than life itself for far too long. No more!

You see, He has been ever gently pleading for more time with me, pressing into my soul how much He longs for that extra time, be it five minutes or three hours. Now, if the Lord was pressing something on you, wouldn't you immediately do whatever it took to obey with all your heart?! Not me, I'm ashamed to say. And He specifically revealed something in my life that, if I just let go of, would free up said time. Not that I was spending hours upon hours upon the said culprit, but a time eater it was nevertheless. You know, the kind of sneaky time eater where you say to yourself, "Oh, I'll only spend five minutes on it" and look up what seems like a few minutes later to realize an hour has gone by. Yeah. That kind. So finally, I decided that this thing was definitely not worth the time it was stealing away, time I would never be able to redeem or get back. I'm just sorry it took me so long to figure out. And do you know what's happened in the last two days since I removed this from my life? It was like a huge weight was lifted off, like for the first time in five years I could walk and talk and just be, without thinking about what a whole connected community would think. How crazy is it to wonder such things anyway??

Maybe you've figured out what I got rid of by now, but if not, let me utter what it was and be prepared to get a bit defensive (for I did for far too long) but, just hear me out:-) Ok, here it is....are you ready?

Yes, it's gone:-) From my life at least. Now, let me be very clear on something before you want to come hunt me down and shoot me for attacking something that's such a big part of this modern society that we live in. I am not saying in the least that Facebook in and of itself is a bad thing. Many times, I know it can be used for an amazing witness through quotes posted and conversations had. It's an easy way to stay connected with those that you might never be connected with otherwise. However.....and this is a BIG HOWEVER, in my life, it was being used to eat my time far more than it was being used to "witness" to those I was connected with. Since having Facebook, I've been much more connected, almost too connected with those that I otherwise would probably not even allow in my life, but suddenly I was expected to open the door to . Language and conversation that I would never even want to know about, let alone read about in every detail, was suddenly the first thing that popped up on my wall, and never in my life has something been so efficient in forming preconceived ideas of what someone is like, long before I ever meet them. 

Maybe all of this seems foreign to you, maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about in the least and you're thinking right now, "Man, this girl really needed to get rid of FB if it was that distracting in her life." But, you see, here's the thing, I never thought about half this stuff until the last couple days when it was no longer available for me to just hop on and "check real quick" before doing whatever else I needed to do. I wasn't spending hours upon hours mindlessly playing games or reading status after status, but more often than not the "real quick" wasn't as quick as I should have made it. Oh sure, there have been times in the past when I've taken "a break" from Facebook and left for up to a month. Yet, there was always the assurance that I would get it back. And it's a little disturbing, now that I think about it, that I need to take a break from something in the first place! What?!?! Often I have learned if there is something so important in my life that the thought of living without it sends a little shoot of panic through me, which I can justify away, it is definitely an idol that needs to be removed. Anything justified is never good. 

So, here I sit officially Facebook free....free to know that all those times I want to check it "real quick" I can open my Bible instead and read something "real quick" before doing whatever else I need to do. Free to write more blog posts "real quick" or actually read some books I've been meaning to "real quick." I heard an amazing quote some time ago that really convicted me and should have spurred me into doing what I knew was right then. 

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." — John Piper

Ouch. How about dropping to my knees "real quick" and having my time not "eaten" but spent in raising the sword ever higher in my life and charging head long into the battle. Tell me these time eaters are not a ploy of the enemy to waste the time of the saints "real quick" and I'll have to say, you're being willingly deceived. For nothing we do is ever nothing....especially the mindless time eaters. 

"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."   
-Ephesians 6:12