Let's make some positive plans for our families this summer! I've scheduled blog posts to last all summer so I don't spend all my time behind a screen. (Scheduling blog posts ahead of time is something I've never done with much success before, but I was motivated!) I want to challenge myself this summer to re-engage with LIFE.
Will you join me in this summer challenge? It's time to come out of the technology bubble we put around ourselves in 2020. Have we numbed ourselves so thoroughly that we're disconnected from everyone around us? Many kids have lost basic social skills. A lot of adults don't know how to resolve conflict. It seems like everyone is a triggered victim. We've forgotten basic life skills. We'd rather sit in front of a screen for countless hours than wrestle around with our kids and laugh until we pee a little.
This summer, our family is going to challenge ourselves to re-engage with LIFE - breaking out of the habits that have us fighting with one another, irritable, and stuck inside. We've already begun by letting the kids' tablets "rest" during the week. In the month of July, we're planning to do a total media fast - no television, no digital games, no social media. As a family, we want to focus on praying together, learning some new life skills like sewing and gardening, and traveling.
For thousands of years, most people knew how to grow or find food without much help from stores. They knew how to make clothes and build shelters. They relied on their legs to get them places. We've lost so much of that in the age of technology, but technology isn't a guarantee. What if it fails tomorrow? What has this change done to our mental and physical health? It doesn't seem good. This summer, let's challenge ourselves to learn new things.
Please join us. Let's drive back the darkness with the tools we have available to us. Let's study God's word together, read some good books out loud, spend time outside, and invite other families over for meals. We can sit around tables or fire pits, look one another in the eyes, and deal with any discomfort or awkwardness until it feels normal again. Let's make sure our kids know how to do things like play hopscotch, jump rope, roller skate/blade, ride bikes, and get dirty. (Immune systems can be built by exposure to germs.) Let's take the extra time we have this summer to create things together as a family, challenging ourselves to get uncomfortable. Let's reach out to those who are lonely. Let's get out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves back into the communities God intended for us to live in.
It's time to stop numbing-out and re-engage with LIFE. Leave this distracted and disconnected world behind and remember what it's like to truly live! What do you think? Are you with me?
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