The Facebook Fast

     Living in as many places as I have and no longer being geographically close to many of my friends, I have been a long time advocate and defender of Facebook.  Last month, however, there was family member with whom we were trying to reach on the phone.  It was frustrating because she would not answer her phone or return missed calls, but I saw that she was constantly on Facebook.  I not only felt hurt, but a little self-righteous.....until I took a closer look at my own Facebook usage.  The few close friends I do have, I maintain real time or phone time relationships with so I am not guilty of replacing the real connections with Facebook messages.  I did realize, however, that I always started my morning logging in to Facebook with my breakfast and morning coffee or tea only to find that time had slipped away from me and I had to start getting ready for work NOW!  In my defense, I was not spending all of that time on Facebook, but it would start there and then I would end up googling this that or the other and my morning would slowly be whittled away.  I decided to take a break from Facebook to see how much time I would gain in a day and what could be done in that time.  I saw a difference in my life almost immediately.  Oh, the things that were getting done BEFORE work....it rocked my socks off!!  I'd get up, go on a run, unload the dishwasher, scrub the bathroom, fold a load of laundry, and ta-da!  The house was staying tip-top with seemingly no effort!  With the house taken care of I was finding that I didn't feel like I needed to rush home and so Brandon and I began to hit the gym on a more regular basis.  I also found that our time at home together was more "together", even during the times he was playing a video game and I was reading (instead of being on the computer) we were sitting with each other occasionally chatting and definitely snuggling.  One of the things I wanted to do more of during what I began to call my "Facebook Fast", was to be in God's Word more.  With all the company we had this month and preparing for and enjoying the holidays, this was not accomplished, but I am now poised and ready to dive straight in.  I am not sure when I will log back in, but I know that I want to keep living without as much Facebook and more real life.  I wasn't  spending as much time on Facebook as I know a lot of people do, but even the small amount of time I was could be better spent doing something more worthwhile and I want to keep it that way.