Hands-free Mama

Mar 14, 2015 technology

A few weeks ago, a friend handed me a book that she thought I might enjoy. The book is called 'Hands Free Mama' by Rachel Macy Stafford, and the subtitle is 'A guide to putting down the phone, burning the to-do list and letting go of perfection to grasp what really matters.' On Monday I started reading the book, and I have been both challenged and inspired by this one mom's quest to disconnect from the clutter of daily life, and reconnect with what really counts. The ideas in this book are not particularly new, but each chapter gives a practical task that the reader can do, to try and implement some of the theory. 

And I have discovered this week that doing it is a lot harder than reading about it! A significant number of the challenges involve putting down our devices (phones, tablets, laptops), switching off the TV, and having a personal conversation with the people around us. We've been trained to 'seize time' and to 'grab the opportunities' to 'get things done' so most often we use the gaps we have to catch up on email, or news or social media or send that one message. But in zoning in on what we need to do, we can so easily zone out the world around us, and the people closest to us. 

Some of the #40Acts lent challenges this week have been along the same thread – starting a friendly conversation with someone you don't know, greeting your neighbour, or using words intentionally to build up and encourage others. But so often when we're 'connected' we're actually 'disconnected' from the living, breathing people in our space, and the opportunities for conversation, for encouragement and for laughing go unnoticed. So, I have been challenged this week to 'disconnect' – to engage in real life, to be fully present in each moment (and not have one eye on a device or TV) and initiate face to face interaction with the people who cross my path each day. I hope you will join me in this, in investing ourselves in the people we come across as we live out our faith each day