Recently, my hubby and I headed to Chili’s after church. As I stood in the restaurant waiting to be seated, I noticed a young family sitting in the waiting area.
The mom and dad were busy text messaging or checking their latest Facebook status while the daughter, who was sandwiched between them, slouched down with a very exasperated look on her face.
Sunday. The day we take our families to church and we worship the risen King, the Savior of the world, the Great I AM.
The day we gather together with our forever family to sing praises to His name, hear a word from the Word, and seek our Father’s face. But when the last song is sung and the last Amen is spoken, we exit the church doors, begin rummaging in our purses or our pockets, wrap our fingers around our cell phones and begin the relentless (maybe even addictive) habit of text messaging our friends, checking our latest Facebook status, or googling whatever it was that was on our minds when church was over and it was time to leave.
Like the family we saw at Chili’s, we pay more attention to our virtual friends than the real life family we have right in front of us.
We take our phones out, place them on the table so that we don’t miss anyone’s messages, yet we fail to realize that we are missing making sweet memories with our family and irreplaceable treasured time. Time around the dinner table is an opportunity to create conversation with our kids, but if we’re distracted and disengaged, then we miss those opportunities to listen to our children’s hearts, and to speak life into their lives.
Today, I want to challenge you to make Sundays a day of connection from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m and commit to connect in three ways…
1. Connect with the Lord ~ Bask in the beauty of His presence. Spend time in prayer and in the Word. Not just for an hour at church, but spend some special time getting to know God more. He yearns for you. Make Sunday a day where you meet with Him.
2. Connect with your hubby (if you’re married) ~ Spend some time talking about what is going on in your home, the needs you see, how you can plan your week, how and what you need to pray about together, decisions you need to make, and how much you love each other. Cultivate your relationship with a little connection time every Sunday.
3. Connect with your kids ~ There are only 940 Sundays between the time a child is born and the time they turn 18. These are precious years and priceless moments you’ll never be able to get back. There is no rewind button to life. This is it. Don’t miss your time with your children in lieu of a virtual world. If you do, it will be one of your biggest regrets. Take it from a mom whose nest is empty…you will always look back and wish you did things differently. Don’t miss making memories, cultivating character, or building your relationship with your children for the sake of the next text message or Pinterest pin.
SO…HERE’S THE UNPLUGGED SUNDAY FAMILY CHALLENGE
UNPLUG FROM ALL THINGS TECH SO YOU CAN CONNECT WITH THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT MEAN THE MOST from 8am to 8pm.
“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” Ephesians 5:15-17
Will YOU take the UNPLUGGED SUNDAY FAMILY CHALLENGE? Can you? LEAVE YOUR NAME IN THE COMMENT SECTION IF YOU ARE TAKING THE CHALLENGE.
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