Shutting Down the Screens

My husband's been reading a lot of Wendell Berry.

Our church has been undergoing various fasting challenges, from turning off our radios and televisions to shutting down Facebook for a week.

Then, yesterday, I read this piece Barbara Fredrickson in the New York Times. The article is good, but it's the picture by Kristian Hammerstad that's been haunting me. That looks like my hand, and my baby.

God's been pulling at our hearts in my home lately. Pulling at our hearts and reminding us to spend a little less screen time. Less iPhone time. Less computer time. Less television time.

More time face to face with each other. More time face to face with our son. More time face to face with God.

I don't usually listen well the first time, but when the message comes again and again and again, through differing mediums each time, even I start to get it.

So for Holy Week and the week following, I'm going to be dormant here at GFJF. I'm taking a breather. A rest. A respite. I'm turning off the screens so I can better listen to Jesus and to my congregation.

There will be good things to come again, starting the week of April 14. A new Stitch Fix shipment, for one. The advent of spring produce at our farm, for another.

But for now, I bid you goodbye with a challenge. Is God asking you to close down the screens, even for a little while?

Happy Holy Week, friends. Have a blessed one.