What's In Your Garden?

Did you ever decide you were going to stop doing something, eating something, whatever it is, you get the idea, and then it is all you wanted to do, eat, whatever...? I decided this morning to stop wasting time FaceBook stalking. I can't tell you how many times I have wandered over to my computer, ready to tap-tap the mousepad, and see what everyone is up to. My computer, which, incidentally shares the roll-top desk with two Bibles that don't see as much action as Facebook.

This morning I read a devotion from Proverbs 31 about how quickly the little things add up. Little calories, little wrong choices, little random thoughts. This afternoon I watched a sermon by Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church on reaping and sowing. I am seeing that God would like to have my attention, perhaps.

To paraphrase the Bible through the sermon, there are three main points:
1. You always reap what you sow. Not once in a while, not usually, but ALWAYS. ALWAYS.
2. You always reap more than you sow. There are tons of easy examples here...one ice cream cone every night combined with no exercise will result in a bigger me.
3. You always reap later than you sow. The good and the bad of this is we can't see immediately what good will come out of the good we do. We may do good godly things in the lives of others and think there is nothing happening, but God's Word promises that what we do will always produce a harvest, at some point. As Pastor Furtick said, it would be much easier to eat sensibly if one french fry did go immediately to my waistline.

Anyway, all of this calls me to examine what I am planting. I am not knocking Facebook in general, just the mindbreaks I seem to be taking more and more often. I could be praying. I could be cleaning. I could even be playing with my kids instead of listening to them fight while I stalk.(A plus of FB is that I have gotten connected with family in a more normal everyday way, and, when someone needs help or prayer, I know about it really quickly. And if I type "praying" on the line, I promise that I stopped what I was doing and lifted you up that minute.)

Maybe Facebook isn't your escape...maybe it is blog-hopping, romance novels, or gossip. Instead of spending quality time with God while you go about your day, you attach the phone to your head and talk about everyone you know with everyone you know. Substitute your crutch here. I am just trying to make the point that we can't slack on the things that will enrich our lives and bring us closer to God, and then wonder why we aren't happy and fulfilled. It has helped me to see how two minute decisions can have lasting results, and to want to spend my time more intentionally.