My friends and fam are scratching their heads and wondering just where the heck I have disappeared to since my footsteps are slowly fading in cyber land. I haven't blogged in a while. I haven't tweeted and I have become a virtual ghost, for the most part, on Facebook. I took it even one step further and stopped my incessant chatting with people on my hand-held devices and only do it while at the computer (and for a limited amount of time). At one point, when Glory Glory Gifts is done for the day at 7:00 P.M., I now literally turn off the computer and walk away from all electronic devices for the evening.......
and I love it.
It wasn't my intent to do this starting on New Year's Day. I'm not usually one for resolutions. I can't remember any that I actually kept past the first week in January anyway, but this one I just kind of fell into and I have managed to stay with it so far. I reached my peak, or maybe it is better referred to as my breaking point, on New Year's Eve sometime around 10 P.M. That was after a day filled with constant pings of chain messages, all very nice and thoughtful, but quite overwhelming when it is a steady stream of them for hours, well it was more like weeks actually. They were endless. (Okay, so I'm the grinch that stole new year's eve.)
The one thing that really bothered me the most, though, was that I started to notice that my prayer life was beginning to suffer because of social media. I was spending more and more time on stupid things like Twitter and Facebook and games. I noticed that I was pushing my mid-day prayers back later and later until I was rushing to say them, including them with my evening ones, or sadly not getting to them at all. I'm not saying it was a daily event, but it happened too frequently to ignore. If you have read my blog, or know me, you know that it is a mission of mine to spread prayer, faith in God, hope and even joy to others. You can't possibly do that when you are not practicing it yourself. Grinches don't spread hope and joy. You know the old adage ~ practice what you preach; well, I needed to center myself again. There is a HUGE difference between praying well and just saying prayers. Saying prayers is just words. Praying well is contemplating what you are saying and doing it from the heart, setting up time to do them and dialoguing with God in the moment. I found that I was falling into a dismal state of prayer and it wasn't doing me any good. I missed my time with Him. I was short-changing myself and my God but thankfully I recognized that and decided to do something about it.
I'm asking you to join me. Tune out and tune into God in 2018. Take time in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening to pray well and let God center you. Find peace in a very hectic, chaotic, day. If you can spend half an hour to get lost on Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, Youtube, or even Tinder daily, you will now have that half hour for God instead.
As for resolutions, I came across an excellent one ~ Forgiveness. Resolve to forgive more people in this new year. People are fallible. Forgive them. Ask them to forgive you. Love. Forgive.
That's another "preach" that I have to practice. Glory Glory Gifts got it's first negative feedback, in almost 10 years of business, on Christmas day, on eBay. It sounds a little trifling and not too earth shattering in the grand scheme of things, but it honestly devastated me. That's probably part of the reason why I was lacking in patience in the days following. The customer didn't reach out to us in any way to ask for a refund or replacement. The customer didn't respond to our emails to correct the problem for him. He just left that negative comment and went on with his life. I know it must have been damaged by the post office because anyone that has shopped with us knows how we pack items. Products do not leave here in broken pieces, and we package items so that customers know that we take pride in our products and in our customer service. I packed his order myself, so yeah, I took his feedback as a personal affront instead of what it actually was ~ just business. He may have even broken it himself, who knows, but the point is I need to forgive him and move on and learn to keep my ego in check. Not only is forgiveness liberating. Forgiveness IS love.
May we all pray well and forgive one another in this new year. Let us love each other, as God loves us. Have a beautiful, joyous and healthy new year!
Peace,
Mare
and I love it.
It wasn't my intent to do this starting on New Year's Day. I'm not usually one for resolutions. I can't remember any that I actually kept past the first week in January anyway, but this one I just kind of fell into and I have managed to stay with it so far. I reached my peak, or maybe it is better referred to as my breaking point, on New Year's Eve sometime around 10 P.M. That was after a day filled with constant pings of chain messages, all very nice and thoughtful, but quite overwhelming when it is a steady stream of them for hours, well it was more like weeks actually. They were endless. (Okay, so I'm the grinch that stole new year's eve.)
The one thing that really bothered me the most, though, was that I started to notice that my prayer life was beginning to suffer because of social media. I was spending more and more time on stupid things like Twitter and Facebook and games. I noticed that I was pushing my mid-day prayers back later and later until I was rushing to say them, including them with my evening ones, or sadly not getting to them at all. I'm not saying it was a daily event, but it happened too frequently to ignore. If you have read my blog, or know me, you know that it is a mission of mine to spread prayer, faith in God, hope and even joy to others. You can't possibly do that when you are not practicing it yourself. Grinches don't spread hope and joy. You know the old adage ~ practice what you preach; well, I needed to center myself again. There is a HUGE difference between praying well and just saying prayers. Saying prayers is just words. Praying well is contemplating what you are saying and doing it from the heart, setting up time to do them and dialoguing with God in the moment. I found that I was falling into a dismal state of prayer and it wasn't doing me any good. I missed my time with Him. I was short-changing myself and my God but thankfully I recognized that and decided to do something about it.
I'm asking you to join me. Tune out and tune into God in 2018. Take time in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening to pray well and let God center you. Find peace in a very hectic, chaotic, day. If you can spend half an hour to get lost on Facebook, SnapChat, Twitter, Youtube, or even Tinder daily, you will now have that half hour for God instead.
As for resolutions, I came across an excellent one ~ Forgiveness. Resolve to forgive more people in this new year. People are fallible. Forgive them. Ask them to forgive you. Love. Forgive.
That's another "preach" that I have to practice. Glory Glory Gifts got it's first negative feedback, in almost 10 years of business, on Christmas day, on eBay. It sounds a little trifling and not too earth shattering in the grand scheme of things, but it honestly devastated me. That's probably part of the reason why I was lacking in patience in the days following. The customer didn't reach out to us in any way to ask for a refund or replacement. The customer didn't respond to our emails to correct the problem for him. He just left that negative comment and went on with his life. I know it must have been damaged by the post office because anyone that has shopped with us knows how we pack items. Products do not leave here in broken pieces, and we package items so that customers know that we take pride in our products and in our customer service. I packed his order myself, so yeah, I took his feedback as a personal affront instead of what it actually was ~ just business. He may have even broken it himself, who knows, but the point is I need to forgive him and move on and learn to keep my ego in check. Not only is forgiveness liberating. Forgiveness IS love.
May we all pray well and forgive one another in this new year. Let us love each other, as God loves us. Have a beautiful, joyous and healthy new year!
Peace,
Mare
This is so well written Mare. I enjoyed reading it, and wholeheartedly agree with your message. I really value my prayer time each day, to meditate and reflect and just center myself. I feel the difference when I miss doing it. A beautiful, joyous and healthy New Year to you too!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Barbara. Your comment means so much to me. I hope it inspires someone to tune out and tune in to God each day. You and I both know what a difference it can make in your day and in your life. Best wishes to you, and your family, for a joyous, healthy and beautiful new year!
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