Kolton at my graduation. Isn't he such a cutie?! We can never get him to smile for pictures. Typical boy. |
My youngest little
brother (who is 13 years old), Kolton: “So, Katie?”
Me: “Yeah,
Kolty?”
Kolton: “This
whole 7 thing that you’re doing. You’re doing it to serve others?”
Me (thinking):
Yes! What an awesome opportunity to explain to my younger brother what this is
all about!
Me (out loud):
“Yeah, Kolty, it is! You know—”
Kolton, cutting
me off: “So does that mean when I’m laying on the couch watching TV and I get
hungry, you’ll go make me a sandwich?”
Um, let me think about that one real
quick… NO. 7 has officially begun, and it does NOT involve me making you or
anyone else a SANDWICH while you’re watching television. Get up off your lazy
butt and make your own sandwich while employing that handy little “pause”
function located on the remote control! Goodness gracious.
Okay so maybe God’s trying to teach
me a lesson already—maybe something along the lines of “BE NICE TO YOUR
BROTHERS” or something crazy like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m working on it,
okay?
That
being said, month one is a fast from one of the things that we live most
excessively in (without really realizing it): media and technology. And yes,
Kolton, that means NO TELEVISION. This month will be a fast from excess that
includes:
1.
No
social media—no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, Pinterest,
Wanelo, Etsy (oh my gosh this really is an addiction, isn’t it?!)
2.
No
television or movies—however, I may watch a couple of movies with my family
because that is the primary way that we spend family time together. I’m getting
ready to go back to college, okay? I have to spend quality time with my family.
Don’t judge me.
3.
No
internet—except to post on my blog (I’ll share it to Facebook and Twitter via
my blog as well) and except for school purposes (I’m imagining that telling my
teachers I can’t do my research paper because I’m fasting from the internet
won’t go over very well. And I just couldn’t do research in that thing called
“the library.” Who does that?)
4.
No
apps on my iPhone—only what’s essential (like my alarm clock, or else I
wouldn’t go to class at all).
5.
Very
limited texting—only if it would be quicker than calling. No texting just to
talk, though.
6.
No
radio.
7.
No
having my phone on me at all times. When I’m out my phone will stay in my purse
and when I’m at home it will stay in one place at all times.
In
all reality, I didn’t think that this month was going to be very hard for me at
all. I gave up social media for Lent, and I found that the less I got on
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, the less I WANTED to get on
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram.
And during
school, I watch TV next to NEVER. No texting? No big deal. I don’t even like
texting anyway.
However… I forgot that for half of
the month of August I would still be at home instead of in school. And what do
I normally do all day every day during the summer (when I’m not babysitting)?
Watch TV, get on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram (all at the same time, all on
different devices), text, and surf the internet (namely Pinterest) for cute
clothes, books, my future home, and ideas for my wedding. I’m a girl, okay?
So maybe this WILL be harder than I
thought it was going to be, at least until the 18th when I move back
into my dorm at Union (I cannot WAIT!!!). But, I read something today in “The 7
Experiment” Bible Study Guide that really puts this whole fasting thing into
perspective—especially because a lot of times we overlook fasting as if it’s
unnecessary. Jen Hatmaker writes, “Fasting is an intentional reduction, a
deliberate abstinence to summon God’s movement in our lives. A fast creates
margin for God to move… A fast is not necessarily something we offer God, but
it assists us in offering ourselves.”
I definitely see my need to reduce
media and technology in my life, especially because it consumes SO MUCH of my
time. And I pray that as I take a breather from these things that in all
honesty suffocate me sometimes, God will have space to move in my life and in
others’ lives in ways that I never dreamed possible.
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the
hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your
house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own
flesh?”
Isaiah 58:6-7
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