I’ve grown up in the church and heard about fasting, but in all my forty-four years, I have never taken part in one until this year. Our church initiated ten days of consecration and fasting to kick off our year, and as soon as it was announced, my spirit knew straight away what I needed to fast—social media. So, I deleted my Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone. I also deleted all my news apps as these were consuming multiple hours of my day, too.
Monday rolled around, and it was hard!
I gave up counting how many times I picked up my phone. Instead, I cleaned out the sunroom with my teenage daughter and spent hours repotting my indoor plants. Tuesday rolled around, and the struggle was real. I delved into my Bible more, I spent time praying, and I found a beautiful book called Reconnected by Carlos Whittaker, which details the seven-week journey he took without technology in a monastery, an Amish farm, and at home with his family. The key lesson I took from it was that humans in the modern world have lost our ability to notice, ponder, wonder, and really understand the mightiness of who our Creator God is.
With the deletion of at least ten apps that were taking hours of my day, I stepped into a place of new understanding about the magnificence of our God. The One who, in Genesis 1, spoke all the world into being. When was the last time you fully pondered the miracle of creation? When did you last put everything you were doing aside, look outside, and wonder at all the colours and intricacies of nature that God has created, right in front of you?
I have come to realise how addictive it is to have constant information and distraction at my fingertips. At the end of the fast, I chose not to immediately reload the apps as I was seeing so many benefits in my life. Two and a half weeks later, I no longer have social media apps on my home screen, and I use a web browser to check the news. All because God met me in my fast and showed me how much He loves me by creating the most wonderful world for me to live in. A world I want to experience fully instead of scrolling through my phone.
What might you learn about the magnificence of God if you spent time in His creation today?
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