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Choosing to Disconnect

by | Mar 14, 2014 | Devotionals

Good Morning Lord. Please quiet my mind and heart. The details of life can be oppressive. There’s always something that has to be done, and sometimes it seems there are barely enough hours in a day. My heart longs to put You first, yet my mind constantly interrupts with things that need to be done. Please save me from this vicious cycle. I need your help Lord. Please be with me today, and help me move past the urgency of the seen world to the urgency of the unseen world.

Apparently I’m not the only one who sees the problem with modern life. Finally started reading Margin this morning, and here he summarizes the problem.

“Please understand: progress is not evil. Similarly stress, change, complexity, speed, intensity, and overload are, for the most part, not enemies. But we have different conditions at play than at any other time in our history, and we must discern our course carefully lest we be overwhelmed by forces out of control. We must have some room to breathe. We need freedom to think and permission to heal. Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity. No one has the time to listen, let alone love. Our children lay wounded on the ground, run over by our high-speed good intentions.”*

Swenson says we are addicted to progress and modern conveniences. I think that is true, because I find it so hard to truly disconnect myself. That is why I love to leave the country and go someplace without phone service. Yet, even then I can’t go more than a few days without feeling the need to seek out an internet café to get caught up. There’s good and bad in the progress. It is good that I can stay connected with people I haven’t seen in years, or don’t get to see often, but it can also be way too time consuming to keep up with it all. Choices have to be made, and for some reason it’s almost painful to disconnect from everything. That would prove it’s an addiction. Although part of it is the fear of missing out on business—still addiction I suppose. Lord, please help me. It’s not just relationships with others that suffer, but the most important relationship in my life; the one with You. Teach me to let go, and to put priorities in order. Free me from the self-imposed demands that I call urgent, but really are not. Give me the ability to meditate on spiritual things rather than earthly things. I will not give up until I am able to overcome this, and with You all things are possible.

Little one, you are in the world, but you are not of it. My kingdom is not of this world, so I ask you to take a trip outside of your world and into mine each day. I know your thoughts will wander, but that is why you must enter with praise. I inhabit the praises of my people; so as you praise you will be lifted from the mire of this world into heavenly realms. Leave your cares for a while and find refreshing in my presence. Although you find it difficult, you make life more difficult when you are not intentional enough to do it. The result of allowing the world to drive you is chaos. You will find it difficult to get anything accomplished. Let Me order your day by quieting your spirit before Me. You will find rest and peace for you soul, and you will find that you accomplish more. Can you not see that that you are working against yourself when you allow circumstances to drive you? My ways are so much higher and so much better. Come sit at my feet, and choose the better part of life.

See: Luke 10:38-42, John 17:15-19, Psalm 22:3, 100:4, Acts 3:20

*Swenson MD, Richard A. Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives