It was early afternoon on the first Saturday of Lent. I found myself, belly full of a delicious omelet sandwich, walking to the family room for what would be the beginning of my weekly veg/chill time in my favorite chair. You might not have a chair as comfy as mine, but I’m sure you have a spot somewhere that just calls to you and says rest here. That for me is this old tan, plush lazy boy. And I was ready to finally be just that—lazy boy. Then as I approached the chair and reached for my tablet from the table, I realized something…I didn’t know what to do.

My normal pattern here was that I would pull up my Clash of Clans account and do some attacking of enemy villages, or whip out Marvel Contest of Champions and kick some super hero but…those options weren’t on the table. in case you missed it, read about what I’m doing for Lent here. I then thought maybe I would sit and mess around on Facebook, but not an option either…ok so maybe just watch a video or two on my iPad…yep you guessed it, couldn’t do that either. Digital distractions were off limits.
For me this was like the first battle front of the Lenten war. Well, I turned to my wife, who still sat at the kitchen table beginning one of her shows on her Kindle and said, “Arman Tablet Hands doesn’t quite know what to do with Saturday afternoons now.”
She laughed and said, “You could always come talk to me.” And so, we chatted for a bit and discussed how things have been going and what we had planned for the rest of the weekend. This brought up the fun of Oscar night at our friend Gloria’s the next evening. We realized we had no clue about any of the movies nominated and would clearly be at a disadvantage trying to guess our picks, which we tend to do at the oscar parties.
So my afternoon of solo gaming and social media, became a family around the kitchen table checking out these movie trailers and commenting on them, the music, the effects, acting, and more. We had fun. We laughed.  Best of all we were all together and engaged.
I am not saying that we never engage or connect, but the reality is Saturday afternoons, our least busy time of the week, is usually a time where you’d find me off in my own world of digital fun and not really even aware that my family exists.
With week one of Lent in the books, I am happy to say that I feel like I am winning! God has been helping me free myself from some of the digital chains that have been holding me down and keeping me from an even tighter connection with Him and the world literally around and not so focused on the world that digitally surrounds. Being disconnected from friends on Facebook for a time has been replaced with greater time with the people right in front of me.
Now, having said that, I hope to expand things this next week. I have still been involved with some things on my devices as needed, for work and reading. This week I want to try and use the devices as little as possible. Keeping with the spirit of my journey to becoming less digitally distracted, I think I can find more ways to use them less.
Pray for me in this ya’ll. I’m increasingly excited about this Lenten season and the fruit that it will produce personally and in my family. Looking forward to sharing, in next week’s post, the impact that Lent has been having on my daughter Leila, who decided to participate.
So, how is your adventure going? We can’t wait to hear all about it. Haven’t started? It’s not too late to throw your hat in the ring. I’m hosting this week’s link-up, so just go ahead and add your link, by clicking the button below. (Note: be sure to include the link to your actual post, not just the link to your blog.)
Not a blogger, but still want in on the fun?  Just post your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, using the hashtag #adventuresinlent.  (You can actually use any other social media platform you want to – we just can’t guarantee that we’ll see it unless you leave us a comment that will tell us where to look.)
Praying for your continued renewal this Lent!
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