I ran across this great blog I'd love to share. If you find yourself with little "me" time. Or if you're running out of time at the end of the day trying to "squeeze it all in" read this blog post and consider Turning Off the Lights for 40 days
Jennifer Fulwiler s
hares...
I had three children under age three, a seemingly endless to-do list, and regularly felt like I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I’d begun to deal with my stress by spending too much time on the internet, and my prayer life had become almost nonexistent. As Lent approached that year, I spent a lot of time searching for how I could make it a time of reprioritization and renewal. I wanted to undertake a spiritual practice that would be drastic enough to break me out of my rut, but would also be reasonable for someone with my crazy lifestyle to undertake. And then, during one of my (all-too-rare) prayer times, I got an odd inspiration:
Turn out the lights.
I felt drawn to do occasional fasts from artificial light during Lent. After talking to my husband about it, we committed to foregoing all electric sources of light after sundown approximately once a week—and this included not only overhead lights, but glowing screens like computers or televisions as well. For safety’s sake we did leave nightlights on in the hallways while we slept, but in terms of illuminating our evening activities, it was all candlelight. The impact it had on our lives was more powerful than I could have imagined. To list just a few of the profound changes this simple once-a-week fast brought to our lives:
1. It forced us to limit our to-do lists. My 98-year-old grandfather often comments that life is much more hectic now than it was when he was growing up on a remote farm in the 1920s, and I think that electric light has a lot to do with that. The first thing I noticed during our artificial light fast was what a large amount of work I typically tried to accomplish after sundown. I found it impossible to tackle laundry by candlelight, and obviously any work on the computer was out. At first it was exasperating, but then I realized that I had been using artificial light to push myself way beyond reasonable human limits in terms of how much I tried to do in a day. On the days that I was forced to do only as much work as I could do during daylight hours, my life became naturally balanced, with times of rest complementing times of work.
2. It taught us humility. The first night I found myself facing an entire evening with no light, I was just about twitching with anxiety.
But what about all that laundry? What about those dishes I didn’t get to? What about email?!?! I hadn’t realized how much I relied on myself and how little I relied on God until I was forced to give up control of my schedule. It was humbling to see that the universe actually did not fall apart at the seams without me working 16 hours a day, even when I didn’t get to those items on my to-do list that were “so important.”
3. It inspired us to live intentionally. On the days when I’d have artificial light to extend my work time as late as I wanted to, I tended to shuffle around the house aimlessly, getting to things when I got to them. But when I knew that my work would have to cease at sundown, with whatever didn’t get done being set aside until the next day, I approached my days much more purposefully.
4. It reduced our stress levels. At the time I was burdened by a lot of worries about everything from money to how I would get through the next day without collapsing from exhaustion. Yet every time we switched off the lights and lit the candles, an amazing thing would happen: My stress would be instantly cut in half. Something about the dim, natural glow and the movement of the flames made me feel deeply relaxed, even when I had been full of tension just moments earlier.
5. It carved out time for the things that matter. The two areas of life that were always threatened by our frantic schedules were prayer time and family time. Without being able to do much work or become distracted by glowing screens, we found that our candle-lit evenings left us plenty of time for our real priorities.
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While we all give up tangible things this Lent, let's not forget to work on our relationship with our own body, mind and soul. What's the point of giving up TV if you spend that extra time on the computer? Why give up alcohol if you don't use that clarity of mind to do something GREAT? Best of Luck my friends! You can do it!
Living Life to the Fullest...with my body, mind and soul for 40 days!
