Distraction

It's been a week since my last post, and it's going to be at least another week before I post again.  I'll get to the reason why in a minute.

As a kid, I always loved to read and would devour piles of books.  We would go to the library every week and I'd leave with a stack of titles--kid's books, chapter books, cookbooks, nonfiction, everything--and when the car pulled into the driveway I usually stayed in my seat for a good half hour because I didn't want to interrupt my reading.  Even as a junior in high school, I read over 30 leisure books in a school year.  Jump forward four years.  I rarely read anymore, which I think is a positively dismal fact.  Reading is an invaluable pastime.  It widens the vocabulary, improves attention span and writing skills, and has incredible variety.  Not to mention how wonderful old books smell.

When I came to Guatemala, I wanted to live life more simply.  I knew I would have a lot more free time and I was planning getting back into reading and spending more time with God.  But there's one thing that Satan uses to keep me away from my goals, to pull me away from conversation, distract me from doing homework and productive things like reading, and cuts deeply into the time I could (and should) be spending with my Buddy (aka God, if you haven't read that post).  This thing is something that I was hoping wouldn't be a vice while I was in Guatemala.  I was hoping that I could resist the temptation.

That ever-present, oh-so-alluring temptation is my computer.

With or without wifi, I always manage to spend way too much time browsing Facebook or Buzzfeed, unnecessarily sorting photos or videos, and reading old emails, documents, and papers from freshman year just for fun.  And way too often, this time happens to be when I have a free evening or afternoon that I could be using to read a good book (I'm currently in the middle of Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot) or hang out with Jesus.  I hate the feeling that I get after I've been staring at the screen for an hour or two, but it is just so hard to resist.  It sucks me in.

I don't need to spend my free time on the computer.  Lots of people all over the world don't have one and somehow they manage to get along just fine.  I've tried many times to change my habit, and I successfully gave up all leisure computer time for several weeks this past spring--needless to say it was very refreshing.  But resisting the draw has become more and more difficult, and for some reason, especially here.  I decided a couple days ago that I was not going to succumb to the computer for the rest of the month.  No useless websites, no YouTube, minimal Facebook (as it's my only way to contact some people), and no unneeded sorting of pictures, videos, or documents.

Well, I utterly failed.  So starting tomorrow (perfect, because Sundays are fine days for beginning things), I'm turning off this darn machine and putting it away for a week.  No exceptions.

I'm going to read books.  I'm going to speak Spanish and have face-to-face conversations.  I'm going to give God the time He deserves.

Hurrah for executive decisions!