Marriage from A to Z

“Can You Disconnect to Connect?”

     Emails, text messages, voicemails, tweets, messages in Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook messages are being sent every minute of the day.   Do you respond to them all?   In most cases, there is something waiting to be read or someone awaiting a response from you. Thanks to the wonderful world of technology, we are ON all the time and people have easy access 24/7.  Staying connected is generally a good thing, but there are times when we need to disconnect in order to connect with the people who are most important.  This week’s post is to challenge you to evaluate your use of technology and see if there is anything that you may need to do differently. 

The question is, “Can you disconnect to connect?”  Do you have periods in your day where you disconnect from it all?  Can you put the phone down for any length of time without having to give a response?   I want to challenge you as I also take the challenge to disconnect for various times throughout the day.  Let’s be intentional about disconnecting throughout the day to connect in the following ways:

1.  Connect to God – Start your day by connecting to God in prayer and reading God’s Holy Word.  The BIBLE is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth and we must take time to connect with God through reading His instructions.  Before you get connected to your phone, computer or any other device, get connected to the Lord.  (Matthew 6:33 and James 4:8)
2. Connect to Your Spouse – There are so many couples killing their time with each other because of the cell phone.  When you have a date night or dinner with your spouse, challenge yourself to give your undivided attention.  Take time to look into your spouse’s eyes without picking up your phone to send a text, email or to check social media.  When you are in bed with your spouse, don’t invite other people in by being on the phone.
3. Connect to your Children – When you pick your children up from school, are you always on the phone?  Give them 100% of you when you are in their presence as much as possible.  Sometimes we are so connected with everything and everybody else while we are disconnected from our children.  Remember they are gifts from God. (Psalm 127:3)
4. Connect to family and friends – Did you realize that you can be sitting directly in front of someone and not connect?  Your body is present but your mind and attention is far away in the phone.  (Check out the picture above)  So often, I see people sitting at the table together but their attention is on the phone and not with the person.

Remember that time is precious!  Value and treasure the time that you get to spend with God, your spouse, your children, family and friends.  Don’t take them for granted.  Disconnect so that you can connect!

Until next week . . .

Carolyn