I figure my phone deserves to rest at night. So, unless I’m “on call” for someone, it slips into airplane mode at or around 2100.
Unremarkable practice.
Albeit, the implications of this simple habit have recently opened my eyes to a stubborn and surprising reality, and caused me to be confronted with this question I’m now passing along.
There are a good many factors that go into making a day great. And also a fair few that can ruin a good start. I’ve found one of them. It’s those first 60 seconds after the alarm sings…
I reach for my phone; sigh all content. Blink, blink, blink away the last of sleep. (I was only half sleeping.) A swipe of the phone sweeps Waves into memory, until tomorrow this time. Another swipe and the little machine reaches out to the invisible, to start downloading the day.
Do I?
If I’m brave, my feet are on the floor before it starts to buzz. Notification Center all alight. I have friends on every inhabited continent, so in my world it’s always day somewhere. Maybe they liked my last photo on Instagram?
That right there is where it starts. I can predict with almost unerring accuracy the sense and sensitivity at my disposal in the day to follow. By who I check in with first.
It’s such a little thing.
Yes. But these little things are pledges of allegiance, of which we’re sometimes quite unaware.
And anyway, don’t knock little things.
(Bullets are little things.)
The 5 Questions. (Time for a self-test.)
1. At the start of the day, which comes first: Facebook Notifications, or an hour of Scripture?
2. At the breakfast table, does the prayer come from a heart actually full of gratitude, or does it sound suspiciously like yesterday’s?
3. At school, which drives harder: Desire for grades, or desire for God?
4. At home, which seems sweeter: An hour of entertainment, or an hour of intercession?
5. In bed, which lingers longer: The frolic of the day, or thoughts of heaven?
I’ve learned a day is worth too much to lose, by reefing through notifications before I’ve read my Bible. And not because my notifications are my enemy. Because at the end of the day, my priorities are making a statement to myself.
So, I won’t anymore. And I’ve found, I no longer care to. I’d rather meet God first, declare to Him and to myself that in Him is my greatest pleasure; would rather let the whole world wait, make notifications come and stand in a line at attention for an hour, while I take my time.
Oh, and it’s not that I don’t care. If you sent me a text at 0200 this morning, I can’t wait to read it.
But…
I still love Jesus more.
February 4, 2014 at 8:12 pm
Mm. Yeah..
February 4, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Mmm… This post drove home the message that God was seeking to teach me this morning… Thank you.
February 4, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Mm! His timing is perfect. 🙂
February 5, 2014 at 1:53 pm
I think you were born to be a carpenter, Sean. You got the nail square on the head again. Thank you…
February 5, 2014 at 5:55 pm
Ooh yes. I needed that. Especially the 5 questions. Thank you.
February 5, 2014 at 6:40 pm
Brother Séan, thank you. God has gifted you with words, pieced together to articulate things that I don't always know how to formulate.
February 5, 2014 at 11:09 pm
Hmm. Yeah. Been thinking about that a lot myself. It's strange how often my phone goes along in the pocket without a thought or reason, yet it takes an important reason before my little Bible goes anywhere in that same pocket. God first, or life first… And nothing's quite right when life comes first.
February 6, 2014 at 4:22 am
Mmmm… You're welcome. This much I know, (Heidi,) sometimes it feels as though the nail hit were my head…
February 6, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Well, the hammer always falls right where it needs to. I think God working through you manages to get more heads than just yours in the course of a day. 🙂 Love allows pain to make stronger, after all.
February 6, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Questions that cut right to the heart. Let us all love Jesus _more_…
February 7, 2014 at 3:09 am
Amen and amen. This house thanks you for for the reality check gently spoken.
February 12, 2014 at 6:30 am
Thank you Sean… I really needed that right now.
February 27, 2014 at 3:46 am
This is just what I needed to hear. I am writing those 5 questions down and post them right by my bed so they are a constant reminder until it becomes a part of me. I am so guilty of checking my whatsapp and sometimes I end up not doing my devotions because I am now in conversations with several people. Thank you for sharing