Fasting

My media fast seemed to be so effective, that it even kept me away from my blog for quite a while!  Renee and I had quite an experience cutting media out of our lives for those two weeks.  We went through a range of emotions and phases including excitement, denial, frustration, anger, acceptance, and finally happiness.

We learned that movies, TV, magazines, books, the internet (yes, even facebook), and other media sources are not necessary to living a happy life and more often that not, (at least for us) were more detrimental.  We realized we needed to learn to create better boundaries if we choose to partake in anything media-related or it can easily overwhelm and overtake our minds, taking our focus away from both our families and from God, which are much more important to us than anything else.

Personally, I learned that I was living without true peace as I had not been taking any time for personal reflection or worship.  After my fast, I feel much more engaged in the lives of my boys and also with my marriage.  I haven't watched any TV (except a little sports with Mike), but I have watched one movie, read a few magazines, and have been online some, however it's been significantly less than my former ways.  I feel happier, more at peace, and generally less stressed.

I think two weeks was a crucial timeframe for this experiment.  One week would not have been long enough to change our habits.  After one week was over, we were annoyed and agitated as we felt the loss of our "media habits", but hadn't filled the hole with anything else.  It was the second week where the growth occurred.  In fact, I chose to fast from a couple of other things just to make sure that they too weren't more important in my life than they should be.

Now that it's over, I wish I could say I read my Bible everyday and spend lots of time in worship, but that wouldn't be true.  What I can say is, that I'm doing better with it now that I've created some space in my life for time with God to exist, but changing your lifestyle or habits isn't easy and it isn't immediate.  I know I have work ahead of me to put my relationship with God where it needs to be, but He is faithful and will guide me each step of the way.