The Joy And Power We've Lost

We used to be different. I know I was different. The empty spaces of my day I gave to communing with God, silent little prayers, thinking, stumbling upon new ideas, and being fully present in the moment.Things are different now. I'm different now. I'm drawn into the digital world/black hole, frittering away portions of my day and energy instead of investing them for fruitful, focused purposes. I'm waking up and realizing that I don't like this. I thrive on focus, being fully present, making steady progress forward each day, and connecting often throughout the day with my ever-present God. I've always thought that my ability to focus was a great gift from God, an important joy-inducing discipline, and a way to serve others. I'm discovering that I've lost some of this muscle. I'm weak where I used to be strong.I'm not suggesting we throwaway our smart phones and cancel our twitter, Facebook, etc. accounts. Created in God's image, we are designed to communicate, connect, explore, and learn. Today's technology gives us amazing opportunities to communicate, connect, explore, and learn. I'm going to keep leveraging technology to do that. But, I'm going to make some changes.I'm not sure what the specific changes will be, but the over-riding principle is this: I'm going to do what I want to do instead of doing what I've become habituated to do. What I want to do is live free, enjoy God and his grace, live fully present in the moment and love others well, and give more time to prayer and thinking. What I've become habituated to do is lose energy and joy by too much digital distraction and frittering away of my time.Amen?